SA3: A Third Sonic Adventure Story
by EternalFluffy
Summary: Eggman is at it again! The Sonic crew must find the magical Chaos Medallions before he does. However, a mysterious echidna named Drake is also looking for the medallions.
1. The Adventure Begins

SA3: A Third Sonic Adventure Story

            Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters and things are owned by Sega. All other characters, places, and things are mine. (I know other people may have characters and things with the same names as mine, but I didn't copy anybody.) (As of the time when this was written, there is no such thing as a Sonic Adventure 3. If in the future there is one, this is not a copy.)

            The following takes place after Sonic Adventure 2 and before Sonic Heroes. 

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

            Sonic and Tails were sitting on the beach of Getaway Island, enjoying the sun, ocean, and all the smoothies and corn dogs. Tails was still blown away by their last adventure. The space colony could have exploded and destroyed the Earth, along with all of them. If it hadn't been for Sonic and Shadow, he wouldn't even be sitting here right now. Well, actually all of them had had a part in saving the world, even Eggman.

            Shadow was gone now. Tails sniffed again, thinking about it. He remembered when Sonic came back into the colony with only one of his wrist (or ankle) links. He claimed he had died, but even Sonic wasn't sure. He fell from space all the way back to Earth. He had to be at least injured from a fall like that.

            Sonic noticed the worried look on Tails's face. "Hey, relax," he told his little buddy. "We're here on vacation, remember?"

            Tails sighed. "Yeah, I know, but somehow I can tell that this isn't over yet."

            Sonic looked up at the sky. "Yes, it is. You saw what happened to Shadow. I'm not going to endanger any more lives."

            Tails laid back in his recliner and tried to look at the clouds and forget about the past events. As he looked at the clouds, he tried to figure out what they looked like, but all he could see were black hedgehogs.

            "Chill out, Tails," Sonic said. "Here, have a smoothie." 

            Tails smiled and grabbed the strawberry smoothie Sonic offered him. Strawberry was his favorite. Now if only he could forget his inner worries… Tails gasped. There was something shiny and blue moving through the sky among the clouds. "Hey Sonic, look at that!" 

            "Look at what?" Sonic asked, lifting up his sunglasses.

            _Pow_! It was too late. The big blue object plummeted into the sand in front of them. Out stepped a pink hedgehog girl wearing a headband and a red dress with red boots. 

            "Amy!" Tails cried. "What did you think you were doing? That's my plane!" He ran up to the Tornado II, half buried in the sand. 

            "Sorry," Amy said. "But I just _had_ to come and see you. I can't believe you left on a vacation without me! Now that is cruel!" 

            Sonic rolled his eyes. "I said I needed a vacation. That also means a vacation from _you_." 

            Amy sniffled. "I flew all the way over here from Station Square to see you and you aren't the least bit happy to see me?"

            Tails examined the plane. "Correction- you _tried _to fly all the way over here. It's gonna take me at least three days to fix this plane!"

            Amy began to wail. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to see you guys…I missed you so much, and now you don't even want me here!"

            "Calm down, Amy," Sonic said. "I won't make you leave. Here, have a smoothie."

            Amy immediately stopped crying, grabbed the smoothie, and sat down next to him. She smiled and winked. "I knew that would get you to let me stay."

            "It's not like I have much choice," Sonic said. "You're stuck on this island until Tails can repair the Tornado II." 

            "But then I'd just break it again, flying back," Amy commented.

            "No," Sonic replied. "I'd have Tails fly you back himself."

            While they argued together, Tails looked up at the sky again. In his gut, he had a strange feeling that he wouldn't get his plane fixed for more than three days…

            In a remote building at the edge of Station Square, Eggman was lurking in a dark corner. After that space colony blew up and he got back to this planet, he had already contemplated how he would rebuild his empire. He pulled a scroll of papers out of his jacket and snickered to himself. These were the extra papers he had managed to swipe from the colony before it exploded. Contained in these pages was an abandoned project by Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald. He had no idea why it had been abandoned. It seemed like the perfect plan.

            It was directions on how to build the ultimate destruction monster, "Proto II." It required the assistance of the seven Chaos Emeralds, but he had those, too. Little did those other little meddling creatures know. Once the space colony exploded, the Chaos Emeralds scattered. Eggman had been able to find every one of them.

            He slipped out of the room and into a bigger room. In the center was a large glowing cylinder containing something large and gray. It was shapeless now, but once Eggman mixed in the Chaos Emeralds, the ultimate destruction monster would emerge, and there would be no Sonic or Tails to stop him this time. Why? Well, he had marooned them on a dangerous island where they thought they were on vacation. They wouldn't find out they _weren't_ on vacation for another five days, when the ferry didn't come back.

            Eggman laughed, wickedly as he inserted each Chaos Emerald in, one by one. The container hummed, the object in the tank began to move…and then shut down.

            "What the…?!" Eggman cried. "The instructions said I should have an ultimate destruction monster if I had all the Chaos Emeralds."

            The digital screen in front of the tank blinked on. It read "please insert Chaos Medallions." 

            "What?" Eggman said. "What in the world are Chaos Medallions?" he looked back down at the instruction scroll. At the bottom were a couple of little words: Chaos Medallions = ??? It looked like Professor Gerald hadn't been able to figure out what Chaos Medallions were either. That was probably why the project had been abandoned. 

            Eggman gripped the scroll tightly. He was determined that he would get these Chaos Medallions and finish the project, and he had to hurry! 


	2. The Emerald Breaks Again!

Once again, Sonic and all related characters belong to Sega. One of my fan-characters is introduced in this chapter. If someone else had a fan-character by the same name, I didn't copy you. 

Please review if you can, but go easy on me since this is the first story I've ever posted.  

Chapter 2: The Emerald Breaks…Again!

            Meanwhile, on the floating Angel Island, Knuckles was looking up at the Master Emerald in its altar. He had decided that it was too risky to leave it outside where anyone could see it, so he had moved it underground again. He realized that this was the third time he'd changed its location. 

            "Gee," he said. "First a water guardian and a girl get trapped inside it, and then a bat-girl tries to steal it…what next?" Knuckles stepped up to the big green emerald and put one hand on it. "Hopefully, with it underground like this, there won't be anything next."

            As soon as the words left his mouth, a strange blue light began coming from the back of the cavern. Knuckles stood up straight and looked at it, suspiciously. Suddenly, someone stepped through the light and appeared at the base of the altar. Knuckles put up his fists.

            "Who are you?" he yelled. "And what are you doing here?" 

            The figure looked up at him. He was hard to see in the darkness of the cavern, but Knuckles could see him just fine because his eyes had adjusted to the low light. It was a black echidna, almost like him. He had white sneakers with blue stripes and blue, half-closed eyes. He smiled at him. 

            Knuckles was surprised to see another echidna, but he still didn't put his fists down. "Answer me!" he barked. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" 

            The black echidna just climbed to the top of the steps. "Is that an emerald?" he asked, calmly.

            Knuckles jumped in front of it. "Yes, that is an emerald, and you better not get any closer to it, or I'll beat the living daylights outta ya!"

            For a moment, the black echidna looked shocked. Then a big smile appeared on his face. "My name is Drake," he said. "Calm down, I'm not going to steal it." 

            Knuckles just frowned. "How did you get in here? Where did you come from?"

            "Questions, questions," Drake just muttered. He didn't answer either of them. There were a few moments of silence as he stared at the Master Emerald.

            Finally, Knuckles spoke again. "Look, Freaky-Drake-Echidna-Guy," he said. "You better get out of this place right now, and if I ever find you telling anybody else about this place, I'll hunt you down and break your…"

            Drake sat on the floor in front of him, completely at ease. "I _told_ you I wasn't going to steal it. You don't believe me?" 

            Slowly, Knuckles put his fists down, but he still remained on alert. Besides, Drake would be easier to hit if he saw him going for the Master Emerald, because it would take a while for him to stand up.

            Drake just seemed contented staring at it. Finally, he asked. "Is this the Great Emerald?" 

            Knuckles had no idea how to answer that question. Finally, he decided to just use his technique and not answer at all.

            "So?" Drake asked again. "IS this the Great Emerald?"

            Knuckles crossed his arms. "You never answered my questions, so why should I answer your question?" 

            Drake sighed. "Well I guess it doesn't really matter…" He looked up at Knuckles. "Have you seen any medallions around here?"

            "Medallions?" said Knuckles. "I don't know what you're talking about."

            Drake stood up again. 

            Knuckles readied himself, just in case.

            Drake was starting to glow. He held his hands at his sides and something big and round was appearing behind him.

            Knuckles' eyes hurt, but he forced them to stay open. One second he closed his eyes would be just enough time for Drake to swipe the Master Emerald. The light kept getting brighter…until all of a sudden, the Master Emerald exploded. The pieces went through the cave and scattered throughout the land. 

            Knuckles groaned. "Not again!" 

            Drake dropped to the ground and his face turned very white. "Oh my God…I…I didn't know it would do that. Oh, I just screw up everything! One day I'm accidentally going to destroy the planet."

            Knuckles was surprised at how distressed he looked.

            Drake crawled to his knees. "I'm so, so sorry, Mr. Red-Echidna-Keeper-Guy. I didn't know it would do that. There must be something wrong with the…"

            "Don't worry about it," Knuckles said. "I just have to go get 'em again and stick 'em back together. I've done this twice before." 

            Drake looked confused. "Really? That's strange…" They stared at each other for a while.

            "Anyway, I'm Knuckles," Knuckles spoke up. "Bye for now." He went running away.

            Drake stared at the podium where the Master Emerald once stood. "I should take lessons from you, Knuckles," he said to nobody. "You're a much better keeper than I am." He looked around. "Well, I best get started finding those Chaos Medallions." He ran off in the opposite direction.

            Even government spies need a break every now and then. After Rouge had fallen from the space colony, she had decided to take it easy, but that didn't mean she'd given up her hunt for jewels. She lied on a beach towel, tanning and sharpening her nails. Then she sat up and drew some hearts in the sand, just for fun. 

            Suddenly, Rouge noticed something glimmering in the sky. It hurled through the air and landed right in front of her. She gasped. 

            "A Master Emerald shard? But how could we have missed one?" She thought for a while. "Unless it shattered again somehow…which means…" Rouge hugged the shard to her chest. "I know!" she cried. "I'll collect all of them and only give them back to him if he takes me out on a date!" She frowned. "But that would be admitting that I like him…" Rouge shook her head. "It doesn't matter, I've still got to go hunting for them again!" 

            She got up off her towel, packed up her beach equipment and changed into her normal pink and black suit with white boots and gloves. 

            "Okay," she said, "Time to get back in business! You better look out; here I come!"    


	3. The First Chaos Medallion

            Yeah, it's the same old same old junk. Sonic and all related characters belong to Sega! Drake belongs to me! You know the drill. 

            Thank you to the people that reviewed! I didn't expect to get any reviews for a while.

            Just a note: the names of the zones in this story are just the names of stages from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 mixed up. 

Chapter 3: The First Chaos Medallion

            "Hey, where's the ferry?" Sonic, Tails, and Amy were standing at the dock with their suitcases packed, but the ferry to take them back to the mainland was nowhere in sight.

            "Maybe it's late," Amy suggested. 

            "We've been standing here for almost a half an hour!" Sonic cried. He paced around in circles.

            "You're so impatient," Amy told him. "It'll get here." 

            Two hours later, Amy finished the last magazine on the rack and looked out at the sea. Sonic and Tails were snoring next to her. She sighed and nudged them awoke. "Okay, guys, wake up. Now I'm positive the ferry's not coming."

            Sonic stretched. "I _told _you! Why don't we go look for somebody who can contact the ferry company?" 

            Tails sat up next to him. "But Sonic, this is supposed to be a "deserted island paradise." There's nobody here." 

            "Yes there is!" Sonic cried. "Some strange-looking guys kept coming out to refill our supply of smoothies and corn dogs."

            Tails frowned. "Actually, those were robots." 

            Amy looked down at him. "Tails, you could fly us back in your plane." 

            Tails shook his head. "Sorry, I still haven't gotten it fixed. I just knew it would take a while."

            "There's gotta be a way off this place," Sonic said. He zoomed back to the beach and Tails followed closely behind.

            "Hey!" Amy cried. "Wait up, you guys!" She ran after them.

            Sonic and Tails ran around into the building that the robots had come from. Sonic suddenly got a flash of insight. 

            "This must be Eggman's doing! He purposely trapped us on this island. That explains all the robots."

            Tails looked around the building. "Hey, see that path of rings? It's probably telling us something." 

            Sonic looked up at the ring path. "You're right, there's a door up there! It's a little too high up though…"

            Tails smiled. "No problem." He grabbed Sonic's hands, spun his tails and flew him up to the ledge where the ring path was. On the way up, Sonic grabbed all the rings he could. They landed and Sonic gave his buddy a high-five. 

            "I've missed doing that. Sure, flying on planes is fun, but Tails-flying is a lot better!"

            Tails grinned. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." He stepped up to the door, turned the doorknob, and pulled. It didn't budge. "The door's locked," he said. "Maybe we should find another door…"

            Sonic pulled out the key to the hotel room they had stayed at. He had forgotten to return it. 

            "That's not going to work!" Tails cried. "It'll only open the door to our room!"

            "I know," Sonic said, "But I have a hunch…" The lock clicked when he turned the key. He twisted the doorknob and the door swung open. "See?"

            Tails felt like laughing.

            The two of them stepped in the door. They expected to find a normal room, but instead they found themselves in the middle of rush hour. Strange hovering robots ran up and down the red fabric street as far as the eye could see.

            Sonic scratched his head. "I don't remember seeing _this _place on the island map."

            Tails read a sign on the side of the ribbon. "Red Highway Zone."

            "Really?" Sonic cried. "Cool! C'mon, let's trash all these 'bots!" 

            So Sonic and Tails zipped through Red Highway Zone, jumping on robots' heads, collecting rings, and sliding on signposts. Suddenly, the highway stopped and dropped away into a big black pit. Four flying robots were hovering over it.

            "I'll see you on the other side!" Tails called, flying over it and waving.

            Sonic jumped up in the air. He curled into a ball and zoomed to the first robot. He performed homing attacks onto each of them and bounced onto the other side. Tails was already there and holding something in his hands. It was flat, circular, and red.

            "Hey Sonic, look what I found! Can I keep it?" 

            Sonic ran over and looked at the object. There were strange markings at its center. "I have no idea what these marks mean, but we better hold onto this just in case. It looks important."

            White light started up around Sonic and Tails. "It looks like we finished the zone," Tails said. In a bigger flash, they reappeared in the lobby of the building. 

            Amy jumped up on her feet when she saw them appear out of nowhere. "Where did you guys go?!" she cried. "I've been searching this entire building looking for you!" 

            "We found a zone in that door up there!" Tails cried, pointing at the door. "And look at what we found!" He waved the red object.

            Amy lit up. "Hey, I saw something that looked like that, except it was blue!" 

            "Really?" said Sonic. He grabbed the red object again. "It looks like some sort of medallion, but I can't be sure. Amy, where did you see that other one?" 

            "Right this way!" Amy cried. "Follow me!" They ran after her.

            She came up to the beach again and climbed into a straw hut structure. Inside was another door. "I saw it go through this door," Amy said. "But I can't figure out how to open it. I banged it with my hammer, but it did no good."

            Sonic pulled out his key and unlocked it, just like he had the other door.

            "That's really weird," Tails said. "Our hotel room key is also the key to all the zones. We better be careful; this might be part of Eggman's plan to get rid of us."

            Sonic nodded. "C'mon, Amy," he said. "We might need backup." 

            Amy's eyes lit up. "Really? You're actually letting me come with you?" 

            "Yeah, sure," Sonic said, running through the door with Tails. "Hurry up, or we might leave you behind!" 

            Amy ran through the door after them. A flashing sign above the door read: "Twinkle Coast Zone."

            Meanwhile, Drake had arrived on Getaway Island. He pulled out a mini-computer and scanned the island. 

            "Yes," he said to himself. "The Chaos Medallions are definitely here. I'm picking up waves of their power radiation." He looked around the island for a while. "It's strange, this island seems to be man-made and not natural, but how could someone make an island this size?"

            Drake looked up at a ledge high in the air. Suddenly, rocket exhausts started up on the bottoms of his shoes and propelled him high into the air. He landed on the ledge and looked around. Suddenly, a red light below him began blinking. "_Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert_," a loud computer voice droned. 

            "Ouch!" Drake nearly fell off the ledge. A robot on wheels suddenly had come up and smacked him with its long arms. All the rings he had been carrying scattered all over the place and disappeared. 

            "Oh well, there go my souvenirs." He turned back towards the robot. "It looks like I've got no choice." 

            A green beam erupted from his outstretched hands and blew the robot to pieces. Drake really wasn't one for fighting, and maybe that was why he was such a lousy keeper. He happened to look down at the sandy beach below and noticed three figures. Two were blue and pink hedgehogs, and the third was an orange fox with two tails. Drake gasped. The two-tailed fox was holding the red Chaos Medallion of Strength! Drake decided to jump down and secretly follow them.


	4. Battles

            Yes, I changed the summary. The only reason it didn't say that earlier is that I didn't want to give away too much of the story just from the summary.  

            Yup, here we go again. Sonic and all related characters belong to Sega. Drake is my fan-character.

Chapter 4: Battles

            Amy shrieked as she followed Sonic and Tails through a loop-de-loop. This zone was the regular seaside resort with a few surprises mixed in. It had a bunch of gears and strange, rolling, long-armed robots. Finally, they reached the end of the zone, and Sonic grabbed the spinning blue medallion. 

            "Say, you were right, Amy!"

            Amy rolled her eyes. "What would make you think I was lying?" 

            "I wonder if there are any more medallions," Tails said. 

            Sonic made the blue one disappear to some unknown safekeeping place. They stood there and looked at each other.

            "Something's not right," Amy finally spoke up. 

            "Yeah," Sonic agreed. "We should be warping out of the zone now."

            Suddenly, a giant multicolored robot fell from the sky. The letters GIS were printed on its chest: Getaway Island Staff.

            "Now I _know _this place is run by Eggman!" Sonic cried. He ran towards the boss robot. 

            "Be careful!" Amy cried. 

            The robot was firing bombs and homing beams, but Sonic grabbed some rings and managed to dodge them. He noticed a weak spot near the robot's head and nailed it twice with homing attacks. Suddenly, one of the beams hit him and he dropped all his rings. Sonic scrambled to pick them up, but the robot just blasted him and he lost them again. The second time, he didn't get to pick them up and he was left defenseless. Sonic looked up. 

            "I don't know if I should chance another homing attack, but what else can I do?" 

            Tails went running forward to help out his idol, but someone else beat him to it. Tails gasped. Standing on top of the robot's head was a black creature, around Sonic's size. "_Shadow_?!" he cried. 

            The creature blasted the robot's weak spot with a beam. It clanked and fell over in a smoking heap.

            Tails shook his head. "I don't think that's Shadow. He wasn't able to fire beams like that before." 

            The creature fell down in front of them.

            "Who is that?" Amy asked. "He looks like Knuckles." 

            Sonic put his hands on his hips. "Alright, Knuckles, why did you paint yourself black?" 

            The creature shook his head. "I'm not Knuckles." 

            "But that's impossible," Sonic said. "Knuckles is the only echidna. Unless Tikal is still out there somewhere…" 

            "Who's Tikal?" the creature asked.

            Sonic shook his head. "Never mind." How could there be another echidna? He couldn't be one. But with that white mark on his chest, that crooked tail, and those long dreadlocks, he had to be an echidna. "Are you a figment of my imagination?" 

            The creature looked distressed. "No more questions! There's no time! My name is Drake, yes I'm an echidna, and you're not supposed to know about me. I need that Chaos Medallion!" 

            Sonic blinked. " Chaos Medallion?" he held up the blue medallion he had just collected. "You mean this?"

            Drake's eyes lit up. "So you have more than one! I need to get them back. May I have those two?" 

            "Why do you want them? What are they?" Sonic asked. "I'm not giving them to you until you answer my questions!"

            Drake shook. "I-I can't do that. It's forbidden." 

            "Well, sorry," Sonic said. He began to put the medallion away.

            Suddenly, Drake lashed out with his dreadlocks spinning in a kind of whirlwind formation. It knocked Sonic over backwards and the medallions flew out of his hands. Drake quickly scooped it up and rocket-boosted into the air. 

            "Sorry I had to do that!" he called. "I'll be back for the Chaos Medallion of Strength. I hope you won't make me do that again." He jumped away on the tops of buildings. 

            Sonic slowly sat up and rubbed his head. 

            "Are you okay?" Amy asked, kneeling next to him. 

            "Yeah, fine," Sonic said. He stood up and brushed some sand off of him. "I have no idea who that guy was, but all I know is that he is not to be trusted. It's strange though, he didn't seem to _want _to fight…"

            "Chaos Medallions?" Tails asked. He pulled the red one out. "Is that what these are? This is the Chaos Medallion of Strength?"

            "Maybe they have something to do with the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic said. "If that's the case, then it's a sure thing that Eggman is also looking for them. Maybe Drake's also in on it!" 

            "I don't know," Tails said. "He didn't seem like a bad guy. He helped us trash that robot." 

            "Looks can be deceiving," Sonic replied. "Anyway, I think it's up to us to get those Chaos Medallions before Eggman and Drake."

            Drake hopped away from the battle scene clutching the shiny blue Chaos Medallion of Knowledge. It was too bad he had to fight that blue hedgehog and his friends, but this was the only way. He had to prove to himself that he was a good keeper.

            Meanwhile, while Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Drake were battling it out on Getaway Island, Rouge had arrived on Angel Island. She and Knuckles were both searching for Master Emerald shards, on separate parts of the island, of course. 

            Knuckles was zipping through a strange land called Pumpkin Mine. Shining pieces of fruit sat in mine carts, distracting him. For a moment, he stopped to admire a bunch of amethyst grapes before grabbing the last emerald shard. He finally decided, "Mining for pumpkins has to be the stupidest job ever." 

            Up above, Rouge was flying through Egg Lagoon, a sticky yellow fountain with giant white towers. She shook her head as she grabbed her final Master Emerald shard. "And I thought I had seen everything."     


	5. Tsunami!

            Hi again! It's time for the continuing saga of Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Drake on Getaway Island! I hope everyone likes the story thus far. 

            Yes, Sega owns Sonic and all related characters, and Drake is mine. Blah blah blah.  

            Just another note: I know this chapter is kind of short, but when I first wrote this story it wasn't in chapters. I had to put the break somewhere.

Chapter 5: Tsunami!

            Eggman floated over Getaway Island, grumbling to himself. So far he hadn't had any luck trying to locate any of those mysterious Chaos Medallions. His locator device wouldn't track anything called "Chaos Medallion." According to the machine, they didn't exist. He had slightly convinced himself that the machine containing Proto II had a malfunction. Eggman would've tried to let it out of the tube anyway, but it still looked incomplete, and he might lose the Chaos Emeralds in the process. Anyway, he just decided to float over Getaway Island and cheer himself up by gloating over the trapped Sonic and Tails. 

            Eggman was surprised and leaned forward to get a better look. It seemed that the annoying pink hedgehog had also gotten herself stuck on the island. With a secret listening device, he caught a piece of their conversation.

            "…Chaos Medallions," Sonic's voice said.

            Eggman nearly jumped out of his hovering pod when he heard. They knew about the Chaos Medallions??? They had probably been hiding them from him all this time.

            "Tails, you better store that one in a safe place. If you're not going to put it away, give it to me."

            "No! It's mine; I found it!"

            "I'm so glad you're okay. If he had hurt you…"

            "Okay, _okay_, Amy. Could you please get off of me?"

            Eggman pulled his listening device away from his ear. If they really had the Chaos Medallions, there was only one thing to do. He clicked on a walkie-talkie and gave the order to his robot workers. "Now it's time- turn on the mega-powered flooders!"

            Sonic, Tails, and Amy were arguing about whether Drake was an enemy or not. Sonic and Amy had almost convinced Tails that he shouldn't be trusted. 

            Amy looked away from the conversation for a moment to try and think of something else. She gasped. "Look at the water!" 

            Sonic and Tails looked over at the sea and their eyes popped out. 

            "Oh my God!" Sonic cried. "It's a tsunami!"

            As soon as he said that, the huge wave began coming. Tails quickly grabbed Sonic and lifted him up. Amy grabbed onto Sonic's legs. Tails flew as high as he could. The colossal wave pounded against the island, flooding the entire side. Tails was beginning to get tired. He couldn't fly forever, and especially not with the added weight of Amy. He dropped a little bit.

            "Tails!" Sonic screamed. "Get us back up!" 

            It was too late. The top of the wave crashed against Tails, tearing Sonic and Amy away from his grasp. The two hedgehogs twirled in the swirling vortex of water and Tails blackened out, slipping beneath the waves.

            Sonic was surprised to find that he was still alive after all that. He shook some extra water out of his pointed quills. Amy was still tightly clutching to his feet. 

            "Oh, thank God!" she cried. "I thought for a while that you were dead, but you were breathing. Then I was afraid that you wouldn't wake up." 

            Sonic looked around. "Where's Tails?" he asked. 

            "I haven't seen him," Amy told him. "I hope he's okay too. That just came out of nowhere. We all could have died!" 

            Sonic stood up. "I don't know, but I've got a funny feeling Eggman's behind this. He might have purposely snagged Tails in order to get his hands on that Chaos Medallion!"

            Amy looked up at him. "The tsunami? You're crazy! How could Eggman have caused a natural disaster like that?" 

            Drake stared up at the cloudy sky above him. Now he was grounded for at least three hours because he'd used up all the power in his rocket booster shoes avoiding that tsunami. For a moment he wondered if the island residents, those blue and pink hedgehogs and that little fox had survived. He felt terrible about having to attack them.

            Drake shook himself. He had to focus on his mission- and that was to reclaim the lost Chaos Medallions. As he took a few steps forward, the side of his sneaker bumped into something. Drake's normally half-closed eyes suddenly flew all the way open when he looked down. Tails was lying unconscious at his feet. Slowly, he bent down and picked him up.

            "Poor thing. He probably got hit hard by that tsunami." He looked around and quickly headed to the nearest area that wasn't full of overturned trees.


	6. Tails's Adventure

            Again! Sega owns Sonic and all related characters. Drake is my fan-character. 

            Since the last chapter was a little shorter, this one is a little longer. 

            I know this isn't my best story, and some things may be a little too similar to past Adventure stories, but that's why it's an Adventure story. This chapter is called "Tails's Adventure", even though Tails doesn't really go on an adventure. Some people may not like the nickname Drake calls Tails and will point out that "Tails" is actually a nickname, but it was just a strange thing I suddenly came up with. 

            I really want to get more people to review, so please review if you read this! And thanks to the people who did review. Just no nasty comments! The story will get better further on. 

Chapter 6: Tails's Adventure

            Tails blinked for a while, and the world slowly fell into place around him. He was surprised to find himself lying on a soft layer of sand and covered by a blanket of leaves. It was already dark, and a crackling campfire just barely illuminated his surroundings. 

            "Sonic?" Tails called. "Amy? Where are you?" 

            Tails thought he saw something move not too far away from him. The dark figure drew closer and closer to the fire- and to Tails. Tails sprang from his makeshift bed. "Sonic! Amy! Help! Who are you? What do you want?" 

            "Calm down," a voice said. It sounded familiar from somewhere.

            Tails's muscles tightened. He couldn't figure out where he'd heard the voice before, but he didn't like this one bit.

            The blue, half-closed eyes and long black dreadlocks of Drake appeared in the firelight. "Don't worry, I promise I won't hurt you."

            Tails didn't calm down one bit. "I know, you're here to get my medallion. I bet you're working for Eggman after all and are just trying to hide it."

            Suddenly, Drake burst out in laughter. He sat down on a stump next to the fire, laughing and laughing.

            "What's so funny?" Tails called, still suspicious. "I'm being serious here!" 

            Drake finally caught his breath. "You…you have an egg man here? Do you have to take him to the doctor when he gets cracked? Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…" He chuckled to himself again.

            Tails slowly smiled. Drake didn't even know who or what he was talking about; he was picturing a little egg with arms and legs walking around.

            "Phew!" he cried. "I'll have to tell that to the folks back home. Maybe I'll get to see it before I go back."

            Tails relaxed again and slipped back onto his sand-mound bed. "Folks back home? Where are you from anyway? Did you come a long way to get here?"

            "I can't tell you that," Drake replied, as usual. "Did you want a hot dog? You've been unconscious for a long while."

            Tails shook his head. He was pretty hungry, but Drake was a stranger, and he was afraid of accepting any food from him.

            Drake glanced at him from across the fire. "No? Are you okay there, Foxaroni? That tsunami must've hit you pretty hard."

            Tails looked a little confused. "Foxaroni?"

            Drake looked down at the sand. "Uh…sorry. Your color just reminds me of macaroni and cheese, and I have a terrible habit of nicknaming everybody."

            "My name is Tails," he informed him, "but I don't mind if you call me Foxaroni." Tails was loosening up more. Drake didn't seem like an enemy, and he was being so nice. "You remind me of licorice," he spoke again. "You're the licorice echidna, which is much better. Knuckles just reminds me of a hot ball."

            Drake started laughing again. "I like you, Foxaroni," he managed to say. "You're a good kid." After a while, he stopped laughing and a moment of silence followed. It was a very awkward silence. 

            "Please," Tails spoke up. "I don't believe you're a bad echidna. Why can't you tell me who you really are and where you come from?" 

            "I told you," Drake replied. "You're not supposed to know I exist. After I leave, you have to forget all about the Chaos Medallions and I. That's the order of this universe." Drake gazed at the fire and his eyelids angled upward in a melancholy expression. "I need to get those Chaos Medallions back. If I don't…everything could be in danger. Everything we know would be destroyed, and it would be all my fault!" He put his head in his hands and stared at the sand, trying to hide his distress. 

            "Drake…?" Tails spoke up after a while.

            "I…I'm sorry, Foxaroni. I'm under a lot of pressure right now."

            Tails took out the sparkling red medallion and held it out. "This is what you're looking for, right?"

            Drake slowly looked up. "The Chaos Medallion of Strength…" He pulled out the blue one. "If only I had been faster…"

            "Take it," Tails said. "You need it to save the world, right? I'm giving it to you."

            Drake's eyes opened a little wider. "Really?" He plucked the red medallion from Tails's grasp, placed it on top of the blue one, and smiled. "That leaves five left to find."

            Tails ate a hot dog with Drake, now that he felt more comfortable. After supper, Drake lay down in the sand and pulled a second leaf-blanket over himself.

            "Good night, Foxaroni," he called, turning over and disappearing into the darkness.

            Tails was going to lie back down on his sand bed, but suddenly visions from the tsunami came pouring back into his mind. Being knocked back by the wave…Sonic and Amy swirling away in a vortex of water…Sonic and Amy! Tails realized that he had to find them. Eggman could be after them this very second. Tails took off like a dart, not even stopping to tell Drake he was leaving. His two tails whirled behind him, propelling him forward. Forest leaves flew in the air as he went zooming past. A thought struck Tails as he careened through the portion of the forest that was still standing. He had no idea where he was going!

            Tails screeched to a halt and stood at the center of the trees. As he scratched his head, his eye caught a flashing sign in the distance. He zipped up to it and realized that it was sitting on top of a doorway. The little lights blinked by, spelling out the words "Emerald Park." Tails was curious, so he stepped up to the doorway. 

            "Please state password," a computer voice droned. 

            "Oh, great," Tails said aloud. "Is it Eggman? He always has such a big ego. That was the password to get into the Chao Garden in the Egg Carrier. It was that one with the beach, the big building, and the green plateaus, I think…"

            The doorway beeped in satisfaction. "Green is the correct password. You may now enter." 

            Tails marveled at his luck as the door slid open. "Wow, of all the words to say, I just happened to say the password!"

            He stepped through the door and found himself in Emerald Park Zone as indicated by another little sign. This zone was composed of benches, a walkway for robots, and a whole zoo full of robotic animals. Tails really had his work cut out for him. Since it was nighttime, the overhead lights were illuminating only parts of the park, making it difficult to see. He zipped along the walkways, pulverizing robots, and propelled by his whirling tails. Tails then proceeded to the zoo and discovered his Rhythm Badge in a caged section behind the metallic monkeys.

            Finally, Tails began to see something shining in the distance. At the end of the zoo walkway, the road stopped abruptly and dropped into a bottomless pit. On a ledge below was something shining bright green. Tails was going to simply fly down and grab it, but he noticed something hanging on a tree above him. It was a zip line! He grabbed the handles and swung down, since that was a lot more fun than just flying. Tails grabbed the sparkling object and gasped. 

            "Hey!" he cried. "I found another Chaos Medallion!" As soon as his voice faded, the familiar white light sprang up around him and transported him out of Emerald Park Zone. 

            Tails glanced around the darkened forest and began running in the direction he had come from. Sonic had always complemented him on his incredible sense of direction. Yes, he still had to find Sonic and Amy, but he had to make a detour first. Tails screeched to a stop as he reached the beach.

            "Hey, Drake! I found another…" he stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed his surroundings. The sand-bed and leaf-blankets were still there, but the fire was snuffed and Drake was nowhere in sight. Tails sighed and pocketed his shiny new green medallion.

            "Well, I better go find Sonic and Amy now. That guy is so weird!" He zoomed off into the darkness, searching the sides as he went.    


	7. Final Deck Zone

            It's me again. Of course. Sega owns Sonic and A.R.C. (that's all related characters) I made up Drake.

            Thank you to everyone for reviewing! I love reviews, so keep them coming!

This is actually the first chapter since chapter 1 with no Drake. A Drake-less chapter of SA3! Can you believe it? What is the world coming to? This one's pretty short too. Don't go crazy wondering about Amy after you read this. You'll find out what happened to her in chapter 10.

Chapter 7: Final Deck Zone

            Unfortunately, Tails didn't find Sonic or Amy that night. It was the next day, and Sonic and Amy were already off looking for Tails. Amy walked along aimlessly. 

            "Tails!" she called, her hands on the sides of her mouth. "Oh, Tai-ails! Where are ya, Tails?" 

            Suddenly, she banged into something on her side and fell over. "Ow," she muttered, rubbing her right side. "What was that?" When she looked up, her mouth fell open in wonder.

            Sonic suddenly appeared in front of her in a flash. "I just checked the whole eastern coastline. No Tails…Hey's what's the matter, Amy?" 

            Amy just continued to gape and pointed upwards.

            Sonic also looked up and smiled. "Awesome!" he cried. 

            A huge tower of connected platforms licked the sky above them.

            "I wonder why I didn't see that earlier." Sonic grabbed Amy's hand and dragged her towards the base. "C'mon, let's go investigate." 

            "Do we have to?" Amy said, nervously. "It looks kind of high up."

            "And I plan to go all the way to the top!" Sonic cried. "Come on, Amy. It'll be fun."

            They ran into a small nook at the tower's base. Another door stood at the back of the nook. A flashing sign above it read: Final Deck Zone, please present key or password.

            "Cool!" cried Sonic. "This thing is really just another level." He inserted his hotel key in the slot and the door swung open.

            "I don't know about this," Amy said. "I wish we had Tails here. He can fly…"

            "Yeah," Sonic agreed. "That's it, stop liking me and start liking Tails!"

            Amy looked appalled "No! I would never do that! I love you." She hugged his arm and he groaned loudly. 

            The two of them strolled into the zone and found colored decks filled with enemy robots. Sonic made short work of these with his fierce homing attacks, and Amy caught the others with her Piko Piko Hammer. The hedgehogs began climbing higher and higher. Eventually, Sonic had to carry Amy because the floor was collapsing beneath them and she couldn't run fast enough to escape. At last they reached the final deck of Final Deck Zone.

            "Oh my gosh!" Amy said as she laid eyes on the spinning object before them. "It's another Chaos Medallion!"

            Sonic grabbed the bright yellow medallion and stared at the markings in it center. "I wonder if this is some ancient language. If it is, I wonder what it means."

            "It looks like a letter "I" surrounded by dashes," Amy said, looking at the markings.

            Sonic glanced around and waited for the white light to take him out of the zone, but it wasn't coming. He was getting impatient and set Amy down beside him. "So? Let us out of here!" he yelled at the air. 

            Suddenly, Amy screamed.

            "What is it now?" Sonic asked, whipping around. "Another robot?" He stopped and gasped. A huge, swirling blue portal had appeared, sucking Amy into it.

            "Sonic, help!" Amy shrieked, flailing against the suction power of the portal. 

            "I'm coming!" Sonic called. He ran towards the blue light and leaped at it. The portal completely swallowed Amy and disappeared just before Sonic hit it. He screamed as he thundered to the ground. 

            Thankfully, the white light jumped up and transported him out of the zone before he became a hedgehog pancake. 

            Sonic wiped his brow and looked back up at the top of the tower. "Amy…" he said to himself. "What happened to her? Where did that portal take her? Is she still alive?" He took a deep breath. "Well, both my friends may be gone, but I've still got to get the rest of those Chaos Medallions before Eggman and Drake. The world depends on it!" He zoomed off along the coastline at the speed of sound.      


	8. Break In and a Meeting

            Hey, it's the same old junk. Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake's mine.

Thank you for all the reviews, and keep sending them! 

            If you've been wondering where Rouge and Knuckles disappeared to, here's the answer. This chapter is strictly a Rouge and Drake chapter. Knuckles will show up in the next chapter. We're abandoning the situation at Getaway Isle for a little while. Yeah, it's short again, but don't worry, longer chapters are on the horizon. 

Chapter 8: Break-in and a Meeting

            Meanwhile, Drake had arrived in the city. All the citizens looked at him strangely. Last night, he had checked his mini-computer and it had detected a strange energy radiation coming from this city, Station Square. It wasn't a Chaos Medallion, but he figured he should check it out anyway. Drake felt bad for leaving so suddenly, but Foxaroni had left him before without saying good-bye, so he didn't feel too bad. 

            Drake adjusted the Jet Booster Heels attached to the ends of his shoes. He'd found those in a city gutter and practiced with their extra booster power.

            He finally found what he was looking for and headed straight for it. 

            On one end of the city, Knuckles was finishing his hunt for emerald shards in Meteor Chamber, while on the other end, Rouge grabbed her last shard in Security Quarters. 

            The spy bat crept around the building. This time, she wasn't just here for Master Emerald pieces- she was on a mission! Yesterday, she'd gotten a call from headquarters ordering her to investigate the strange radiation of energy from this building. The president was worried it was another plot by that nefarious Dr. Eggman.

            Rouge snuck by a few cameras in the hall and kicked out a machine that asked for a password. "Gee," she whispered to herself. "Those Iron Boots came in more handy than I expected."

            Rouge stepped into the dimly lit room. She headed for the glowing tube in the center of the room. "Hmm," she whispered. "This looks suspicious." She walked closer to the tube, her boots clicking slightly. 

            A big, grayish blob floated in the center of the tube. The blob only faintly had pairs of big feet and little hands. One round head with pointed ears protruded from one side. 

            Rouge gasped as she looked at the grooves around the tube. The seven Chaos Emeralds sat in these slots, glittering dangerously. Her eyes fell upon the monitor at the front, flashing the words, "Please insert Chaos Medallions."

            "Chaos Medallions?" Rouge said. "I've never heard of Chaos Medallions. Is this some kind of trap?" She looked around, warily. Suddenly, her large bat ears caught sounds of footsteps and they were very close! Rouge ran to the back of the tube, but it was too late.

            A figure appeared in the broken doorway. Rouge was confused and squinted at the figure a while. Finally, she stepped out from behind the tube and ran towards the figure. 

            "Hey! It's you!" she cried.

            Drake emerged in front of her. He cocked his head. "Um…do I know you?" 

            Rouge stopped short. "Wait a second, you're not the one I'm looking for."

            "Phew," Drake said. "I was afraid I had forgotten you. Who are you? My name's Drake." 

            Rouge turned around. "None of your beeswax. Go away, imposter." 

            "Imposter?" Drake said. "Why am I an imposter?" 

            "Never mind," Rouge sighed. She studied the figure in the tube and took notes.

            "What it this place?" Drake asked. "Do you live here?" 

            "Of course I don't!" Rouge cried. "Will you stop being so stupid? I'm busy here. Go away and leave me alone." 

            Drake didn't budge. He stared at the tube in wonder. His eyes traveled down to the blinking monitor that read, "Please insert Chaos Medallions." "Oh no," he said, under his breath. "No, don't tell me…" Drake stepped up next to the tube and noticed all the glittering Chaos Emeralds. "Oh no," he said again.

            "What are you doing?" Rouge snapped. "Get away from that tube. I don't want you touching it. Didn't I already tell you to go away?!" 

            Drake just remained perfectly calm, as always. "Are these the…Chaos Emeralds? If they are, then…" He closed his eyes and put his hands over his face.

            Rouge perked up and looked at him. "What? What if they are?"

            Drake didn't answer. He was beginning to glow green.

            Rouge watched in fascination.

            The green light grew stronger, and something large and circular was forming behind him. His eyes opened the whole way as the green light filtered through his body. His mouth dropped open and spoke on its own. 

            "These two must never unite, for in the hands of evil, ultimate destruction will fall upon both sides…this is why keepers are chosen by these powers to ensure that the Passage is sealed at all times…" Slowly, the light faded and Drake dropped to the ground, unconscious. 

            Rouge scribbled down notes. "Weird," she commented as she exited the room and snuck her way out of the building.

            Drake woke up again and went crazy. "I didn't know it had gone this far. I _have_ to find those remaining Chaos Medallions!" He ran out of the building, the same way Rouge had gone.     


	9. Disastrous Date

            Sega owns Sonic and ARC. I thought up Drake. 

            This chapter doesn't really move the story forward much, but it was a funny little scene I had in my head. Some people might not like Rouge and Knuckles going out on a date, but they're not _really_ on a date. You'll see when you get there. I have no idea what movie they're watching, but whatever it is, it has a very silent moment. It's a little longer than the others. (Yea!) (I had this broken into two chapters, but chapter 10, To Getaway Isle, was so extremely short, I just combined them.)  

            Please send reviews! I love reviews. 

Chapter 9: Disastrous Date

            Meanwhile, Knuckles was outside, also going frantic. He still had six more pieces of the Master Emerald to find, and he couldn't find them anywhere! His instinctual emerald radar seemed to have gone nuts, telling him the emeralds were moving. They were moving around near a building in the distance. Knuckles began running in the direction of that building. 

            As he ran by, a kid standing on the sidewalk called, "Excuse me! Knuckles!"

            He stopped for a moment and looked back at the kid. "Whaddaya want? I'm busy right now." 

            "Do you have a brother?" the kid asked.

            "No," Knuckles answered, scowling. "Why in the world would you ask me that?" He was planning to run away and leave this crazy kid to his crazy thoughts, but his next statement kept him standing there.

            "Well, there was this guy walking around here earlier that kinda looked like you. He was black and had these weird sneakers. He said his name was Drake."

            Knuckles scowled again. That Drake! At first, he hadn't been angry with him for breaking the Master Emerald again, but now he felt like pounding him into the concrete. It was his fault he was on this wild goose chase, after all. 

            The little kid saw the wild look on Knuckles' face and ran off in terror.

            With that out of the way, the red echidna continued his sprint to the building. When he got closer to the base, he suddenly slammed into Rouge, coming from the opposite direction.

            Rouge was about to scream, "Oh _there _you are!" but contained herself and bit her tongue. She had devised a plan on how to get Knuckles on a date with her without actually admitting that she liked him. 

            Knuckles jumped up. "Rouge!" he cried. "That's it, _you _must have the rest of the Master Emerald pieces! Hand 'em over, you thief!" Rouge stood up and Knuckles prepared to fight with her.

            "Hey, calm down. I don't want to fight. Let's make a little deal." 

            Knuckles looked a little suspicious. "Are you trying to trick me? I know how much people like to try and trick me." A little voice in the back of his head said, "And they usually succeed." 

            "No, not at all," Rouge assured him. "You're right, I do have the other Master Emerald shards, but instead of fighting, I thought we could work out a deal. You see, I'm in a little trouble and I need your help. If you help me, I'll give you the emerald shards back." 

            "What kind of help are you talking about?" Knuckles asked.

            Rouge took a deep breath. "Well, I made this bet with my friends. They bet me a hundred dollars that I couldn't get you to go on a date with me, and I'm broke! I can't be paying them a hundred dollars!" Rouge tried to look distressed, but her heart was beating very fast.

            Knuckles scratched his head. "Um…_what _did you just say?!"

            Rouge was getting a little frustrated. "I _said_ I made a bet with some friends…" 

            "Yeah, yeah, I heard that," Knuckles interrupted. "But why would you make a bet like _that_?!"

            Rouge shook her head. "I have no idea. I don't think I was in my right mind." She held out her emerald pieces. "So will you do this little favor for me? I'll give you your emerald pieces back…"

            Knuckles thought it over for a while. He couldn't find any way out of it, except to suddenly attack Rouge and take the Master Emerald shards back by force. He looked around at the city residents staring at them. That was a bad idea. If the people saw him attacking Rouge, they'd think he was an assaulter or a woman-beater. Knuckles sighed. "All right, I guess I'll do it," he muttered through clenched teeth.

            Rouge felt like jumping for joy. She hid her jubilation and handed the emerald pieces back to him. "Remember, we made a deal," she said. "If you run off on me, I'll have to fight you!"

            Knuckles pocketed the shards in relief. He didn't put the emerald back together right then, afraid that Rouge would try to steal it once it was intact, but if she did that, she was breaking her end of the bargain, and he could fight her for it.

            Rouge looked around. "Okay, we're pretending we're on a date, so why don't we go see a movie?" 

            Knuckles frowned. "Can't we just take pictures and make it _look _like we were on a date? We don't have to actually go on one."

            Rouge pretended to be disgusted. "Yeah, I wish we could do that too, but my friends are also spies, and they'll be secretly watching to make sure we actually _go _on a date, so unfortunately, we have to."

            Knuckles desperately looked around as he trudged into the movie theater behind Rouge. He thought there was something a little fishy about this, but he just went with it.

            Drake was watching them as they went into the cinema. "Oh, that's right! I have to warn the other keeper!" he cried. He ran up into the line and also paid for a ticket to get into the movie.

            Knuckles sat beside Rouge in the movie theater, arms crossed, and looking very cross himself. He hoped that no one he knew could see him now. 

            Thirty minutes later, there was a very quiet moment in the movie, and the whole theater was silent, except for people munching popcorn. Knuckles leaned back in his chair and tried to catch some Z's. 

            Suddenly, a black head popped up between them. "Hi, am I interrupting something?" he asked.

            Rouge shrieked and scattered popcorn all over the man sitting in front of her. All the people in the theater turned and looked at them. Knuckles wished he could dissolve into the fluffy red carpet.

            Drake smiled at them. "Sorry, miss, I didn't mean to scare you like that. Is that your girlfriend, Knuckles?"

            Now, Knuckles had had it. He turned around and kneeled in the chair backwards. "No, she's _not _my girlfriend! Why can't you leave me alone, you half-wit?! This is all your fault, you know! If we weren't in public, I'd…" 

            "Shh," Rouge said, popping another piece of popcorn in her mouth. "I can't hear what they're saying!" 

            Drake shrank back a little. "Sorry, I just needed to tell you something important. It's about the Passage…The two sides are on the verge of being joined!" 

            "What?!" Knuckles cried. "You come all the way in here to tell me _that_?! Go away! I don't know what the heck you're talking about!" 

            Rouge reached up and tugged on his arm. "Pipe down, big guy. You wanna get us thrown out?" 

            "Actually, I _would _like to be thrown out right about now," Knuckles muttered. He sat back down, but gave one last warning glance to Drake.

            Drake slowly crept out of the movie theater. He leaned against the wall. "What am I going to do?" he said in a worried tone. "The Chaos Emeralds have already been gathered, I'm still missing five Chaos Medallions, and the other keeper has never even heard of the Passage!" He banged his head against the wall. Finally, he decided he had to get going if he expected to even come close to saving the worlds.

            An hour later, Rouge and Knuckles came out of the cinema. 

            "Well, it was nice after that weird guy left," Rouge said.

            Knuckles squinted in the bright sun. "Yeah. Sorry I yelled like that, but I'm really ticked off at that guy." He suddenly realized he had no idea why he had apologized to Rouge. 

            Rouge frowned. "Now I forgot to tell you the rest of the bet…they said it had to be for a day." 

            "Great," Knuckles said. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

            "Well, I kinda forgot," Rouge lied.

            Knuckles sighed. "Now what?"

            "Well, why don't we go to that new vacation spot, Getaway Isle? No one will see us there."

            Knuckles let himself be dragged into the Getaway Island Ferry, because he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

            Sonic was racing along the sands, still keeping a lookout for Amy, Tails, Eggman, Drake, or any new zone entrances. So far, it had been two hours since he'd lost Amy and he was growing frantic. With all the friends he had nowadays, Sonic had been constantly surrounded by other people, and he was actually getting a little lonely. He hid his loneliness by racing around the island.

            At last, he began to see some sort of life form up ahead. As he drew closer, the figures came into better view. They were something red and something white and pink. "_Knuckles and Rouge_?!" Sonic said to himself. "What are _they _doing here _together_?" Sonic zipped up next to them in amazement. 

            Knuckles jumped a foot in the air. "Aaaaugh! Sonic?! I thought this was supposed to be a deserted vacation island! You liar!" 

            Rouge held back laughter.

            Sonic looked confused and still frantic. "Well-I-can't-stick-around. I-still-have-to-find-Amy-and-Tails-and-get-the-Chaos-Medallions-before-Drake!" He zoomed away.

            "Hey, wait!" Knuckles ran off after him. 

            "Where are you going?!" Rouge yelled. "We made a deal!" She ran after the two of them.

            Sonic was shocked as Knuckles came running up beside him. "You're coming with me???" he cried.

            Knuckles shrugged. "It's better than being stuck with Rouge."

            Sonic raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, why _were _you there with Rouge? I thought you two couldn't stand each other."

            Knuckles glared at him. "That's none of your beeswax." Sonic just left it at that, because he didn't feel like having a fight right then.   


	10. Amy's Adventure

            Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are my fan-characters.

            Finally, you get to find out what happened to Amy! This chapter also introduces my second fan-character, Ruth. You may think having another echidna is unoriginal, but I believe Ruth is original in her personality and her abilities. I love echidnas, and all of my fan-characters are echidnas, but they are all unique in their own special way. It may seem like there are a lot of grammatical errors, but that's just the way Ruth talks. 

            I know Omochao is in Sonic Heroes, but I just couldn't leave the scene with him out…it was too funny, and yes, I know everyone doesn't hate him, but…a lot of people do (including me).

Chapter 10: Amy's Adventure

            Amy slowly lifted her head and blinked her eyes. The fuzzy world around her was coming into focus. She appeared to be in a dark cave-like structure. "Where am I?" she asked, groggily. "Sonic? Are you there?"

            "Where _are _ya?" a female voice said, very close to her. "For Petey's sake, I should think ya'd know if ya tried to hop the Passage."

            Amy's vision came completely into focus now. She was lying on the floor of a darkened stone closet, with the blue swirling portal behind her, now much smaller. 

            Someone kneeled next to her, concerned. She had a white ruffled blouse, an orange-and-pink skirt, green boots, blue eyes, and long green dreadlocks.

            "You're an echidna," Amy commented. 

            "Course I am," she answered. "What's a 'lil hedgehog like you doin' round these parts?" 

            "I honestly don't know," Amy answered, sitting up.

            The green, female echidna stared at the portal for a long time. "Say…didya come _through _that there portal?" 

            "I…I think I did," Amy said, timidly. "It tried to suck me in and then I blackened out." 

            The echidna stared at her with amazement. "Well sorry, honey but I can't getcha home right now. The portal needs time ta recharge, ya see." 

            Amy looked down. "Well, can you at least tell me where I am?" 

            The echidna looked worried now. "Um…I can't ya that. It's kinda against the rules. You'll just hafta stay here at my house 'til the portal recharges."

            Amy followed her out of the closet and gaped at the house. It was very clean, but large wooden sticks sat in one corner, the bed was built into the wall, and the table was just a platform hovering above the ground. 

            "Hey…" Amy suddenly asked. "Are you a friend of Drake's?" 

            The echidna girl lit up. "Oh, ya saw Drake? He's a nice guy. We've been friends since we were 'lil kids." 

            She sat down on a hovering stool and invited Amy to sit with her. Amy found it awkward to sit on something that was hovering, but she did her best to stay on. 

            "So, whatcha name, 'lil hedgehog?" the echidna asked. 

            "I'm Amy Rose," Amy answered. "Who are you? Or is telling me that against the rules too?" 

            The echidna smiled. "No. If it were, ya woodn' know Drake's name. Although 'e does have a reputation for breakin' the rules." She smiled at Amy. "My name's Ruth Clover. Just relax, 'kay? I'm not gonna do nothing to ya." 

            Amy wondered if she was in another zone, since she came through a portal to get here. If she were, how come there weren't any robots? Amy thought a little longer. Maybe she was in another world, or the future, or the past, or…something. 

            "What are all those big sticks in the back for?" Amy asked.

            "Well ya might think this's strange, but my faverit hobby is pole-vaultin'. I always carry a pole wit me." Ruth pulled a long brown pole seemingly out of the air.

            "Oh!" Amy cried. "Kind of like this!" She pulled her Piko Piko hammer out of thin air.

            "A hamma?" Ruth said, confused. "Whatcha do with that hamma?"

            Amy cleared a small space and began showing Ruth just what she could do with her "hamma." She pounded a few crates, did her super hammer jump, and her hammer whirl.

            "Wow," Ruth commented. "Impressive." She got up and ran out into the clearing. Then she showed Amy what she could do with her pole. She did a super-high, pole-vaulting jump, and showed off some karate moves using the pole. Finally, she stuck the pointed end of the pole in the ground and used it to propel her forward in a burst of speed. Fortunately, she managed to stop before crashing into the nearby wall.

            "That was cool!" Amy said, clapping. "I wish I could run as fast as you. Everyone else can run faster than me, and it's so frustrating!" 

            "Really?" Ruth said. She lit up. "I know! While yar waiting for the portal to recharge, I could teachya howta run faster!" 

            "Really?!" Amy cried. "That would be great!" 

            "Okey-dokey," Ruth said. "We'll start first thing tomorrow."

            Bouncing and screeching noises filled the halls of Ruth's house as the two new friends practiced together. 

            Amy zipped around the field twice. "How's that?" she asked.

            "Pretty good!" Ruth called. "Keep workin' on it!" 

            Amy found that if she ran for a while, she built up speed as she got used to running, but running from a standstill was still hard for her. She tried it a couple of times and met with no success. 

            She just looked around and admired her surroundings. She wished there was a place like this back home. In the middle of Ruth's house was a giant, indoor field, just like a front lawn, except inside the house. The only downside, Ruth said, was that she still had to water and cut it like a normal outdoor lawn. 

            Amy tapped Ruth on the shoulder, interrupting another pole-propel. "Um, I was wondering if you could time me. Just ta see if I've gotten faster." 

            "Sure thing," Ruth said. She held up a small, flat stopwatch. "Go stand by the door…okay…ya ready?"

            Amy squatted in running position and nodded to her. 

            Ruth pressed the button and called, "_Go_!" 

            Amy shot off and tried to run as fast as she could. For a moment, she felt like she was flying. After a while, she was starting to get very tired. 

            Thankfully, Ruth pressed another button. "Okay, youkin' stop now!"

            Amy panted and walked over to her. "How'd I do?" 

            Ruth pulled out a record-keeping notebook and scribbled down the new time. "Hey, yeah! Ya are a lot faster!" 

            Amy looked at the notations. "Well we _have _been training the entire day." 

            Ruth held her pointer finger up. "Nuh-uh, we stopped ta hava lunch break." 

            Amy nearly fell over.

            Ruth smiled at her. "C'mon, let's go back ta my room. The portal might be charged up now."

            Amy followed her out of the field and down a few small hallways. She peeked around some corners and saw what looked to be a comfy living room with a fireplace. Well, if this was the future, then fireplaces were still in style. Amy looked around the room as Ruth went into the closet to check the portal. She felt like she should be packing up her things, but she had no things to pack up. This was the first time she'd unintentionally taken a trip. 

            Ruth emerged from the stone closet. "Yup, all charged up now." Amy headed for the closet, but Ruth reached out and stopped her. "Waita minute. I got somethin' ta give ya." 

            A present? Amy thought. Why would she be giving me a present? It's not my birthday, and I don't even know her that well. She remained in suspense for another couple of minutes until Ruth finally dug out what she was looking for. It was a pair of boots.

            "Here," she said, handing them to Amy. "Why doncha try these on? I was savin' 'em for somethin', but now I don't know what."

            Amy slipped the new boots on and was shocked to discover that they fit her perfectly. A yellow light started up around her and Omochao fell onto her head.

            "Ouch!" she cried. "Hey!" 

            "You've found the Swift Boots," the robotic chao said in his annoying voice. "Press and hold B button to charge up and release for a Giant Step…"

            _Crash!_ Amy smashed Omochao to bits with her hammer. "I already know how to use these things! There's an instruction manual for a reason!" 

            Ruth gave her a weird look. "What in blazes…?"

            "Don't ask," Amy replied. Finally, Amy stepped into the swirling blue portal and waved to Ruth.

            "Bye, Amy girl!" Ruth called to her, just before she disappeared. "See ya on the flip side!" 

            The light was swirling around Amy, making her very dizzy. Just when she thought she was going to be sick, the swirling stopped. Slowly, the pink hedgehog got a hold on the solid ground beneath her feet and looked up at what had materialized around her.

            "Hey, this isn't Getaway Island!" 

            She was surrounded by metallic walls with morphing colors, robot parts, and pounding machines. A dimming sign above her head read: Welcome to Lost Egg Zone.

            "Lost Egg Zone?" Amy said to herself. "These zones just keep getting weirder and weirder."

            The zone was composed of broken-down machines Eggman invented and some of his plans that never made it to the primetime. Amy had a difficult time trying to navigate through this sea of wires and electronic junk. Unfortunately, there were some live robots among the parts, but Amy took these out with her hammer. Her new Swift Boots really came in handy when she had to clear a loop-de-loop near the end. 

            "Wow," she said to herself. "I really can be just as good as the guys if I work at it. I bet I could beat Tails in a race now!"

            Suddenly, she frowned. That was right, they never did find Tails after that tsunami hit. Thinking about Sonic and Tails, Amy managed to speed through the rest of the zone even faster than before. She landed on a platform in the middle of the greasy pond. 

            "Cool! It's another one of them medallion thingys," she said.

            Sure enough, a glittering, silver Chaos Medallion sat on the center of the platform. As soon as she grabbed it, the white light of zone transportation enveloped her body. 


	11. Fiasco at Sky Mountain

            Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are my fan-characters, although Ruth doesn't appear again for a long time. 

            Thanks to those of you who have reviewed for me! At least I know some people read past chapter 1! 

            This chapter centers on Sonic and Knuckles, with some funny parts. I like to write about them because they're always fighting and it makes for some humorous conversation. Pretty short once again, but remember- I always save the longest for last. 

Chapter 11: Fiasco at Sky Mountain

            Sonic was falling. He went whooshing through a puffy cloud on his way down. 

            Plop! Knuckles only bobbed down a bit as Sonic landed on his back. He rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, that's the third time you've fallen off that cliff! You know, you'd be long gone if I weren't here to save your…" 

            "Oh shut up," Sonic argued. "You fell off it too!"

            "No, I only _jumped _off it in order to save you from certain death."

            "Yeah right. Sure looked like falling to me."

            The spat continued as Knuckles attached onto a cliff and pulled Sonic up. A few minutes ago, they had entered this new zone, Sky Mountain Zone, consisting of only clouds and a colossal mountain. Sonic was convinced that another Chaos Medallion had to be at the top.

            "So you never answered my question," Knuckles said as he ran up the mountain path beside Sonic. "What are these Chaos Medallions?" 

            "I don't know," Sonic said, "But I know they must be connected to the Chaos Emeralds somehow, and that guy Drake is looking for them. When some strange guy is searching something that starts with "Chaos" it usually means something bad." He glanced sideways at Knuckles. "And I still think you know more about this than you're telling me." 

            "For the last time!" Knuckles yelled, "I'm not related to Drake! I'm not his brother; I don't know where he came from. He just appeared out of nowhere!" 

            "Out of nowhere?" Sonic said.

            "Yeah. I was just standing at the Master Emerald's altar, and all of a sudden this echidna guy named Drake appeared out of this portal with blue light…"

            "Portal with blue light?" Sonic repeated.

            "Stop repeating I'm saying!" Knuckles snapped.

            Sonic was deep in thought. He ran right off a steep cliff at the end of the path.

            Knuckles watched him fall and sighed. "Here we go again." He jumped off the end after him. "This makes number four!" 

            Several more arguments later, Sonic and Knuckles finally reached the top of the mountain. Sonic had been right, and a spinning aqua medallion was sparkling in front of them. He grabbed the medallion from its place.

            "Yes, I found another one!" 

            "So that's a Chaos Medallion?" Knuckles said, crossing his arms. "How do you know they're not just cheap imitations of Chaos Emeralds?" 

            "I can feel their power radiation," Sonic answered. "Even just holding this one next to the other one is heating up my…yeowch!" He dropped the aqua and yellow Chaos Medallions as they burnt a small hole in his glove.

            Knuckles bit his tongue and held back laughter.

            "Great, how am I going to carry them if they burn me just being together?" Sonic said to himself. Suddenly, he jumped up and shoved the aqua Chaos Medallion in Knuckles' hands. "Here, you carry this for a while, but you're not keeping it, it's mine."

            "Why would I _want _it?" Knuckles replied. He stared at it for a long time, carefully examining every side. "What do the markings in the center mean?"

            "How should I know?" Sonic said. "Why have I been having problems with zone-transporting light lately? Hello, we need to get out of here!" 

            Knuckles was too busy staring at the markings to notice Sonic. He squinted at the lines a few times and turned the medallion around. "Well, if you hold it this way, it kinda looks like a ball sitting beside a river…" When there was no response, he called, "Sonic?" 

            Knuckles finally took the medallion away from his face and set it on the ground. "Now where did he go? If he fell off that cliff _again_…" he stopped short as a pair of hands appeared over the side of the cliff.

            Drake clambered onto the mountaintop, out of breath. His rocket-booster shoes just picked the worst times to run out of charge. "Oh no," he panted when he saw Knuckles.

            "That's right," Knuckles said, putting up his fists. "You better be afraid. After you destroyed my emerald and had the nerve to follow me into a cinema for some nonsense about a passage, I have a right to be fed up with you!" 

            Drake gasped and jumped upright. His half-closed eyes popped all the way open. "Oh my God! That plane just exploded in mid-air!" 

            Knuckles whipped around and looked into the sky. "Where?" 

            While he was distracted, Drake grabbed the Chaos Medallion and ran for his life.

            "What plane?" Knuckles asked, still totally oblivious. "I don't see any…" he turned around again and realized what had happened.

            "Oooh, that slippery little worm!" The enraged echidna began shaking. "Next time I see him, he is going to get it!" The white light then transported him out of the zone.


	12. Reunion

            Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are mine. I know this word for word by now.

            Yeah, I know it's still not that long, but at least this chapter is longer than the last one! There's not really much to say about it, except thanks and enjoy!

            Please send reviews! Oh, and thank you to my loyal reviewer, Spike the Hedgehog!!!

Chapter 12: Reunion

            "Where did you go?" Sonic asked as Knuckles appeared next to him. "Did you get lost in the transportation?" Sonic looked around frantically. "Where's the Chaos Medallion?!"

            "I kind of lost it," Knuckles replied, a little embarrassed.

            "How could you have lost it?!" Sonic cried. "I just gave it to you!"

            "After you left, Drake came up on the cliff and stole it from me," Knuckles added, trying to be a little more truthful.

            "And you just let him?" Sonic said, confused. "That's not like you." After a moment of thinking, he raised an eyebrow. "He tricked you, didn't he?"

            "You don't know that," said Knuckles.

            "Oh, I can tell," replied Sonic. He sighed and put his head in his hands. "Either way, now Drake has two, and I only have one. This is bad."

            He was just about to yell at Knuckles, when a familiar voice called, "Sonic!!!"

            Sonic looked up and saw Amy running towards him. She zipped up and flung herself around his neck. "Oh Sonic, I missed ya!"

            "What happened to you?" Sonic asked. "I thought you got sucked into that portal."

            "I did," Amy replied. She sat down on a rock. "And I came out in this strange new world or somethin'. I met this weird pole-vaultin' echidna girl, and she taught me howta run fasta. It's a story anna half, I tell ya!"

            Sonic wrinkled his nose. "Why are you talking so funny?"

            Amy covered her mouth. After spending so much time with Ruth, she had begun to talk like her! "Uh…sorry. Anyways, get a load of this…" She told Sonic and Knuckles all about arriving in the other world, meeting Ruth, obtaining the Swift Boots, and smashing Omochao.

            "So you finally destroyed that little twerp?" Knuckles said, interested. "Good job!"

            Sonic felt disappointed. Amy had met a friend of Drake's. If it had been him, he would've tried to pry as much out of her as possible. What a wasted opportunity!

            "Oh, wait!" Amy cried. "I forgot about this!" She pulled out the silver Chaos Medallion from Lost Egg.

            "You found one!" Sonic exclaimed. "That's good, because we just lost one." The three of them walked off towards the forest. "Ha!" Sonic cried. "We're even now, Drake!"

            Tails was suddenly awakened as something shook his tree. He'd been in this tree since last night. Part of him thought that he'd never find Sonic and Amy again. That part was convinced that they must've drowned in the tsunami. The other half insisted that they were still alive somewhere, and he should go look for them. The two sides had been waging war all day until he finally decided to just go to sleep again. Tails flew out of the tree, alarmed. A familiar voice reached his ears.

            "Amy! Will you stop whacking into all those trees? You're going to scare the local wildlife."

            "Sorry," Amy's voice answered. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

            "As usual," Knuckles' deep voice added.

            Tails's heart leaped. He flew down into the forest and landed right in front of Sonic.

            "Tails!" he cried. "Where have you been? Were you sucked into the same portal as Amy?"

            Tails didn't answer for a while. He just hugged Sonic and Amy and mumbled how happy he was that they were still alive. Finally, they found a small forest clearing and Tails told them his side of the story.

            "I have another Chaos Medallion," Tails said, showing Sonic the green one from Emerald Park.

            "What happened to the other one?" Sonic asked. "You know, the red one, the first one we found…?"

            "I gave it to Drake," Tails answered.

            Sonic nearly fainted. "_You gave it to Drake_?! Just _gave _it to him?!"

            "He said he needs them to save the world," Tails told him. "And he looked very distressed. He's not a bad guy; he doesn't act like one."

            Sonic took a deep breath. "You didn't realize he was trying to trick you?!"

            "But he looked so sincere…" Tails said, softly.

            "People may _look _sincere, but that doesn't mean they _are _sincere!" Sonic cried. He shook his head. "Sheesh, Tails, you're getting to be as big a sap as Knuckles!"

            Knuckles scowled at him.

            "That means the score is still even," Sonic decided. "Drake has three, and we have three. If these Chaos Medallions are similar to the Chaos Emeralds, there'll only be one more medallion to find." Sonic drew little figures in the sand with a stick. "I'm afraid there's going to be a big showdown with Drake for the final medallion, wherever it is. However, there are four of us and only one of him. It should be easy to take him down."

            "How do you know?" Tails asked. "We don't know anything about Drake; he might have some kind of special power."

            Sonic thought for a while. "Well, while we were fighting that big robot back at Twinkle Coast, we saw him fire a beam, lash out with his dreadlocks, and rocket-jump with his shoes. What more powers could he have?"

            Nobody said anything for a long while.

            Tails was thinking about having to attack Drake. Would he be able to, after that meeting? What if he called him Foxaroni again? He didn't think he could stand that.

            Amy was thinking that if they fought against Drake, Ruth might come to help him. She didn't think she'd be able to fight Ruth.

            Knuckles was just thinking that he'd crush Drake the next time he saw him; he didn't care what kind of special powers he had.


	13. The Final Chaos Medallion

            Skip this part 'cause you already know what it says: Sega owns Sonic and ARC! Drake and Ruth are mine! Mine, mine, mine! Okay, no _Finding Nemo _crossovers.

            13! Chapter 13! The fateful chapter 13! You may just get to find out who Drake really is…maybe. If you figure it out before chapter 17. I had this broken into two chapters, but one was extremely short, so I combined them, kind of like Disastrous Date. Two chapters, Disastrous Date and To Getaway Isle were combined, and now Speed World Zone, and The Final Chaos Medallion are combined. Remember, this story wasn't originally in chapters.

Chapter 13: The Final Chaos Medallion

            The next day, the foursome was standing outside a very large building. "This building is at the very center of the island," Sonic said. "If there was a good place to hide a pivotal Chaos Medallion, this would be it."

"I'm not sure," Tails said. "Isn't it kind of obvious?"

Sonic stepped up to the front of the building. "Well, there's a door…maybe if I tried the key…" He pulled out the hotel key and fitted it in the lock on the doorknob. It clicked as the door unlocked and Sonic pushed it open. "Okay. Here we go. Are you guys ready?" He looked back at his three teammates.

Amy's face said, "Don't go in there."

Knuckles' face said, "Well, get on with it."

Tails's face said, "Wow, that was kind of a stupid place to hide a Chaos Medallion."

Sonic smiled at them. "We're going to make it. Just think about all the things we've been up against. This little black echidna is nothing." He thrust his arm out like an army general. "Onward!" He marched into the zone with his head held high.

"No!" Amy cried. "Sonic, come back!" She ran into the zone after him.

Tails took a deep breath and stepped in after her.

"What an idiot," Knuckles muttered as he followed reluctantly behind.

Suddenly, Rouge's head popped out from behind a nearby tree. "I can't believe I lost both the Master Emerald and Knuckles," she whispered to herself "Still, I wonder what they're doing…"

She stared at the zone entrance for a while, thinking things over. "Well, just because I didn't succeed this time doesn't mean that I'm defeated." She smiled as hope came back to her. "It's not too late to still nab one of them." She ran into the zone.

A few minutes after Rouge disappeared into the zone, Drake came along holding his mini-computer, flipped open. "Hmm, this is the place, but there seems to be _four_ in this zone." He looked up at the towering building. "What is this building _for_ anyway? This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then again, none of this does."

He pulled out the three medallions he had. "And I can't call upon the morphing power with only the Chaos Medallions of Strength, Knowledge, and Serenity." He sighed and slipped into the zone, worried.

This zone was the hardest yet, and Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles had to combine their talents in order to get past certain situations. There was a proliferation of shielded robots in this world. This zone was nothing but a gigantic hole with roads weaving through it. Florescent lighting blinked all around them. Signs floating around told them that they were in Speed World Zone. All four of them spun around a sideways loop and then grinded down a steep rail. When they reached the platform below, they were all shocked to discover Rouge standing there.

"Rouge?!" Sonic cried. "What are _you _doing here?!"

"Well, I had to find some way to spend the time while I waited for the ferry," she lied. "This place sure is weird, huh?"

Knuckles stepped forward. "You're here to fight with me, aren't you?" he stated. "Because of that deal we made…"

Rouge waved her hand. "Aw, forget about it. If that wasn't enough for my friends, then they're just going to have to accept it."

Once the bat-girl turned her back, Sonic gave Knuckles a nudge. "So…what kind of deal did you make with Rouge?"

Knuckles shoved him away. "Leave me alone, will ya? You should be more concerned about our upcoming battle with Drake."

Rouge turned back around. "Did you say you're going to battle Drake?"

Sonic's ears perked up. "Why? You know him?"

"Well, we kind of ran into each other once," Rouge replied. "I think I'll tag along. This could be interesting."

Sonic gave her suspicious looks, but let her follow them down through the twisting, maze-like zone.

After a few more minutes of complete twisted-highway madness, Sonic and the rest of his crew arrived at a blinking platform with a concrete turret in front of it. The scenery was nothing, and completely ignored as they all laid eyes on the final, spinning Chaos Medallion. It was a shining purple color, and hovered above a red cushion.

Sonic stepped up and slowly reached for the purple Chaos Medallion. He felt a little like a thief, doing it so slowly and carefully. At last, he plucked it from its spot and waved it in the air. "We did it!" he yelled. "We got the last Chaos Medallion!"

"Keep it down!" Amy hissed. "You want Drake to hear us?"

"You know," Sonic said, "I'm not even sure he's here. We haven't seen him at all yet, have we? Maybe he gave up on this one. That _was _a pretty hard zone."

"No! I made it!" a voice cried behind them. Everyone whipped around as Drake suddenly jet-boosted into the air in front of the platform.

Knuckles rushed forward to fight him, but suddenly Drake gave off a very bright green light. Knuckles was temporarily blinded and fell backwards.

"What's going on?!" Amy cried. The light hit her body, and instantly, the Chaos Medallion she'd been carrying was attracted to the light.

Tails watched as his green medallion flew out to join the others.

Sonic desperately tried to hang on to the two medallions he had, but it was no use. It was as if the medallions were attracted to Drake like a big magnet. The seven of them formed a ring around him as he hung in the air, still emitting a terribly strong green light.

Knuckles watched in awe as the Master Emerald pieces automatically reconstructed themselves. The great green emerald than disappeared back into his body.

Drake smiled from his circle. He pointed to each of the medallions in turn and called out their names. "Red Chaos Medallion of Strength, Blue Chaos Medallion of Knowledge, Yellow Chaos Medallion of Determination, Green Chaos Medallion of Nature, Silver Chaos Medallion of Compassion, Aqua Chaos Medallion of Serenity, and Purple Chaos Medallion of Humility…lend me your power!" He began to shine as he said the next words. "Supreme morphing power, forged by the great…"

_Slam_! Drake never got a chance to finish. Suddenly, Eggman, in his hovering pod, slammed full force into Drake from behind. The black echidna went crashing onto the platform.

With one swipe of a robotic arm, Eggman snatched all of the Chaos Medallions and placed them in a special container.

Drake looked up at him, weakly. "Who are you?" he asked.

Eggman laughed at him. "Why of course you've heard of me, or at least you _will_. I am Dr. Eggman, and now, thanks to you, I shall rule the world!"

Drake sat up and glared at him. "So _you're _that egg man Foxaroni mentioned."

Tails gasped at the mention of his other nickname.

"Ha!" Eggman laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't care! As soon as I unleash Proto II, you will all bow before me!" He zoomed off in his pod. There was an awkward moment of silence following this.

"Proto II?" Tails said to himself. "What's that?"

Drake had collapsed back to the ground and had been lying there since.

Slowly, Sonic kneeled next to him. "Drake…" he said, a little afraid at first. "…Are you okay?"

"No…" Drake sniffed. "Why…"

Sonic lifted his head up and suddenly realized that Drake was crying. "What's the matter?" he asked. "You're crying just because Eggman took your medallions?"

"No…" Drake said again, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said. "Sorry if I seemed like an enemy to you, and attacking you like that. I just want you to know that before I die."

"Die?" said Sonic. "You're not going to die. You just got hit pretty hard. You might have a broken bone, but you're not going to die."

"No, we're all doomed," Drake said, his voice cracking as he held back tears. "You, me, everybody, everywhere. The Chaos Medallions shouldn't have been here in this place. If the Chaos Medallions and Chaos Emeralds meet, and Proto II is unleashed…" His eyes went wide as he recalled something terrible. "Ultimate hatred and destruction will ensue. Both sides will be crushed, and along with them, all life. Only darkness and evil spirits shall remain.

Sonic sat there, his mouth agape. "Is that true? What kind of creature is this Proto II? Or is it a creature?"

Drake sniffed again. "I don't think that egg man understands what he's doing. If he does, he must not understand that he will die too. Proto II cannot be controlled; it destroys everything until there is nothing left to destroy. Then, it also dies."

Sonic stared at him for a moment. "You know, now you're actually starting to make sense. We have to hurry and stop Eggman before he releases that Proto II."

Suddenly, Tails ran over and gave Drake a hug. "I knew you weren't a bad guy; I knew it all along."

"Foxaroni!" Drake cried, hugging him back. "I wanted to thank you for understanding."

Sonic looked back down at them. "Foxaroni? Now what's that?"

A little smile appeared on Drake's face again. "That's just my nickname for your friend here. I have this habit of nicknaming things. You better tell me your name before I nickname you too."

"I'm Sonic," Sonic answered. "And that's my friend Amy. I believe you already know Knuckles, and the bat's name is Rouge." Amy waved a little.

Sonic stared into Drake's blue, half-closed eyes. "Now…will you tell us about where you came from and about the Chaos Medallions?"

Drake looked at the platform ground. "I'm sorry, it's a law of the universe. You can't know about me, or the Chaos Medallions. I wish I could tell you, but I've already broken too many rules."

Rouge, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. "Proto II…is that the creature in that tube we saw, surrounded by the Chaos Emeralds?"

Drake jumped up again. "Yes, it is. The problem is, I don't know this place very well and can't remember where that building was."

"No problem," Rouge said, "I know exactly where it is. Follow me!" The six of them were then transported out of the zone.


	14. Return to Station Square

            Yup, Sega _still _owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are mine, although Ruth doesn't appear again until the end. You must be almost as sick of reading this as I am of writing it.

            This fic is drawing to a close, and things are starting to get interesting. Yeah, I'm presenting you with another very short chapter, but it will be made up for. The next chapter is the longest yet, and there's some pretty good action so don't worry!

Chapter 14: Return to Station Square

            The six teammates ran down to the dock as soon as Getaway Isle appeared again beneath their feet. There was no time to wait for any stupid ferry, so Knuckles, Rouge, Tails, and Drake took off either gliding or flying. The two echidnas carried Sonic and Amy on their backs. Soon the flying foursome ran out of strength, dropped into the water, and began swimming. Tails stayed aloft longer than Rouge and the echidnas, but eventually he was swimming too.

            At last, they reached the edge of Station Square and pulled themselves out of the water. The hedgehogs and echidnas shook water out of their spines, and Tails squeezed some out of his furry tails.

            "This way," Rouge told them, pointing in the direction of the tall building near the cinema. The rest of the crew followed her as she ran down the sidewalk, past the theme park, casino, and town hall. The people in the city gawked at the motley crew as it went by.

            Rouge finally halted in front of the large, twelve-story building she had been investigating earlier. Everyone else ran up behind her.

            A tall, burly security guard stood at the entrance, blocking their passage.

            "Excuse me," Drake said, stepping forward. "But we really need to get into this building. It's an emergency!"

            The guard looked at them strangely. "Sorry, but no one's allowed in here anymore. No exceptions. We recently had reports of a break-in, and security's been tightened." He raised an eyebrow. "Um…who _are _you anyway? Those are some weird costumes you've all got on…"

            Before he could finish, Rouge delivered a sharp kick to his private area, and he fell to the floor in pain. They all rushed in the door behind him.

            "Sorry," Sonic called as they went by. "It's for your own good!"

            The sounds of twelve shoes, clicking on the marble floor, echoed in the halls as Rouge led the others through the corridors. They rose up five stories, until she finally stopped and said, "This is the floor."

            Suddenly, Drake stood up very straight. "It might already be too late!" he cried. He shot off down the hallway.

            "Hey, wait up, Drake!" said Tails, whirling his tails and following him.

            "Tails, where are you going?!" Sonic cried, running after him.

            "No! Sonic! Come back!" Amy used her boots to perform a Giant Step and followed Sonic.

            Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other for a moment, shook their heads, and went after the others.

            Drake flew through the broken-down door of the laboratory and screamed.

            Eggman stood at the monitor, holding the last Chaos Medallion.

            "No!" Drake yelled at him. "Don't put that Medallion in!" He ran up and tried to grab it, but Eggman shoved it into the slot before he could reach him. Drake stopped short, lost his balance, and crashed to the floor beside Eggman. "You…you don't know what you're doing…"

            "Oh yes I do," Eggman said with a wicked smile. "With the power of this new monster, I could rule the world!"

            Tails, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge came running into the room, one by one. "Oh my God," Sonic said, speaking for all of them. Their mouths hung open in shock.  


	15. Attack of Proto II

            Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are mine. Let's cut to the chase.

            I won't waste time with any explanation.

            Thanks to those that reviewed. I admit, this story was written a year ago, and it isn't my best work. I tried to make it seem more like the cut scenes of a game, so that element kind of suppressed my creativity. Please bear with it. I'm working on a sort-of sequel to this story, which so far has been much better.  

Chapter 15: Attack of Proto II

            The deformed, grayish blob in the tube was beginning to grow as it absorbed the power of the Chaos Medallions. It grew a long neck with a round head on top, and long, pointed ears protruding from the sides. Its arms grew in sharp claw-like talons, and it developed powerful back forelegs like a rabbit. Long bat wings folded over its back. The creature finally opened its red slit eyes and bared pointed red teeth.

            "Ah ha!" Eggman cackled. "Proto II is about to be unleashed!" He looked up at the tube. "I am your creator's grandson and your master. Come and we will rule the…aaaaugh!"

            The creature broke the glass of its tube and knocked Eggman to the ground with one mighty swing of a talon. Proto II stepped out of the container and advanced towards Eggman in vengeance. The frightened evil scientist ran from the room yelling, "No! Don't hurt me!"

            There was a minute of complete silence after Eggman left. Drake, still on the floor, held his breath in terror. Slowly, Proto II turned its head and chose its next target- Sonic and his friends!

            A powerful blast erupted from the creature's eyes. Sonic and Amy just barely got away in time.

            "What are we going to do?" Tails cried, clutching Sonic's spines in fear.

            Knuckles ran forward in determination. "I'll tell ya what we're gonna do," he said. "You stay here. I'll get rid of this guy."

            Rouge looked worried. "Are you sure, Knuckles? That guy looks really powerful. You could get hurt…"

            Knuckles nodded. "Aw, he ain't that strong. I'll get rid of it, just like that." He stepped up to the monster, ready for battle. "Alright," he whispered, "Let's see what you can do."

            Proto II swiped at Knuckles with its talon, but he was too fast and easily dodged it. In mid-air, the red echidna dove towards the monster, driving the spikes of his knuckles into the creature's flesh.

            It stretched, just like rubber, and flung him backwards. Proto II didn't seem fazed a bit. It bared its teeth and growled, as if it were laughing at him.

            Knuckles grew frustrated and enraged. He unloaded a flurry of punches on Proto II, but still didn't do any good. The monster swiped him away and the battle continued.

            As the attacks persisted, Drake got up off the floor and quietly made his way around to where Sonic and crew were standing. He sighed as he watched Knuckles trying to fight off Proto II.

            Look at him, he thought. That should be me. I'm such a terrible keeper; this is all my fault! Here I am, just standing here. I just wish there were some way to make up for it…

            By now, Knuckles was getting visibly tired. He huffed and puffed, but still glared up at Proto II with determination.

            Sonic called out to him to stop and that he would never beat the monster alone, but Knuckles was too stubborn to listen. He wanted to prove to them that he could handle a monster this size.

            Proto II had just about had it with fighting with this fierce little creature and planned to get rid of him right now. It unleashed another one of those powerful blasts from its mouth.

            Knuckles wasn't expecting this. He lunged to the side to try to avoid the explosion, but half of it hit his legs, and he crumpled to the ground as pain shot through his body. Knuckles kneeled on the floor and tried to stand up, but his damaged legs just collapsed again. As he struggled, Proto II formed another blast.

            The moment seemed to pass in slow motion. The blast shot out towards Knuckles.

            Sonic's eyes widened. "Knuckles, look out!" he yelled.

            Rouge shrieked and covered her eyes.

            Knuckles looked up, but it was too late and the blast was nearly upon him.

            Drake's blue eyes glittered. A black streak zoomed up just in front of the blast. The bright light of the explosion blinded Knuckles for a moment. Drake's body rocketed backwards and fell just at his feet.

            Proto II closed its mouth, turned around, and flew up out of the building, off to destroy the rest of the city.

            "Oh my God!" Tails cried. "Drake…!"

            Knuckles caught his breath again and pulled Drake's body towards him. The black echidna's eyes were closed and a huge, bleeding gash ripped across his chest. Knuckles gently nudged him. "Drake? Are…are you alive? Can you hear me?"

            Drake's eyes opened just a tiny bit and his face twisted in a pained expression. Knuckles looked in confusion and fascination. "Wha…Why did you save my life like that? I was mad at you before."

            Drake slowly smiled. "Y-You may not understand what I'm saying, b-but… If I can't be a good keeper myself, the least I could do was protect the life of a good keeper, so he can continue to defend the worlds…" Drake's eyes closed again, and his head fell back against Knuckles' chest.

            Knuckles reached forward and pressed his hands against his wound, trying to slow the bleeding, not caring if his gloves got stained with blood.

            Slowly, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Rouge stepped up next to them. "Is he going to be okay?" Tails asked, fearfully.

            "I'm not sure," Knuckles said. "This wound is pretty bad. We should take him to a hospital."

            Sonic shook his head, sadly. "Now that Proto II is loose, he's destroying everything. There probably aren't any hospitals left standing." There was period of solemn silence.

            Drake's face grew pale and Knuckles felt his breath weaken. Knuckles held _his _breath. C'mon, Drake, he thought. Don't die; please don't die. You can make it. Slowly, Knuckles began to shake and the shining Master Emerald lifted from his body. This is no good, he thought. The Master Emerald can't heal him.

            As he looked down at Drake's body, he was surprised to see the green light emanating from him. The light grew brighter and brighter. Knuckles closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he gasped.

            Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Rouge gasped. "Ch-Chaos Medallion?" Sonic said.

            A gigantic green medallion hung in the air. It shined with intensity greater than the other Chaos Medallions. The green light from the Master Emerald joined with the light of the medallion. The light washed over Drake's body.

            Knuckles' purple eyes widened. Slowly, he removed his hands to find that the wound on Drake's chest had completely closed up, not even leaving a scar. Color filtered back into Drake's face. His eyes fluttered and then opened halfway, but that was perfectly normal for him.

            "Drake!" Tails cried. "You're okay!"

            Drake slowly sat up and looked around. "I don't believe it…" he whispered. He stood up and looked over at the floating medallion, then down at Knuckles' bloodstained gloves, and finally up at the floating Master Emerald. A little smile formed on his face. "Is that the Great Emerald?"

            Knuckles stood up next to him. "No, it's the Master Emerald. I've been guarding it my entire life, I guess. It can control the powers of the Chaos Emeralds."

            Drake continued to smile. He stepped up to the green medallion. "This is the Great Medallion. I've been guarding it my entire life. It can control the powers of the Chaos Medallions."

            Sonic nodded. "I get it now. The Chaos Medallions are like counterparts of the Chaos Emeralds. But, how could they have healed you like that?"

            "The Master Emerald and Great Medallion were meant to keep the peace and control the other emeralds and medallions so they didn't get out of control. You don't see the word "chaos" in their names, do you? They must have had some reason for saving my life. If I wasn't a good keeper, they would've let me die." Drake sighed. "I would explain, but we don't have much time. Proto II is out there destroying the city."

            "What can we do?" Tails asked. He looked around. "Oh!" The little fox lit up with an idea and ran over to the broken tube in the center of the room. He pulled a Chaos Emerald out of its groove. "Proto II only absorbed the emeralds' power for a while. Their power is starting to come back now." He ran around the tube, plucking the emeralds out. "Sonic, you can transform into Super Sonic and defeat that beast!"

            Sonic looked down at the Chaos Emeralds. "But, Tails…do you think I stand a chance? I won't be as strong with the Chaos Emeralds at only a fraction of full power."

            Tails looked worried. "I know, but this is our only chance. You have to try it."

            Sonic picked up the Chaos Emeralds and they began to spin around him. In a brilliant display of light, his skin turned bright golden yellow, his eyes glowed red, and his quills pointed up at the ends with the ultimate power of the Chaos Emeralds. He had become Super Sonic once again. Super Sonic was about to fly out to see if he could defeat Proto II, when a voice stopped him.

            "Hey wait a sec," Amy said. She stepped up to the monitor with the slots and pulled the seven Chaos Medallions out. "What about the Chaos Medallions? If they're the counterparts of the Chaos Emeralds, wouldn't they also make someone turn super?"

            Super Sonic came back down and hovered in the air.

"I never thought of that…" Tails admitted.

            Drake stepped up beside Amy. "The answer is sort of yes. I need to see those for a moment…"

            Amy handed the medallions to Drake and they began to make a circle around him, like they had before. He began his incantation, calling out their names, and then saying, "Supreme morphing power forged by the great wizards of Angel Island, lend me your assistance! To keep the peace in our worlds, grant me your utmost strength!"

            A brilliant light surrounded Drake, the Chaos Medallions spun around, and in a shower of sparkles, he transformed. His skin had turned shiny silver, his eyes were aqua green, and his dreadlocks curled up at the ends. Both his dreadlocks and the white crescent on his chest were accented by black streaks.

            Tails gasped. "It's Super Drake!"

            The transformed Drake hovered up to him and shook his head. "No. I'm Ultra Drake. A transformation using the Chaos Emeralds is a Super transformation. A transformation using the Chaos Medallions is an Ultra transformation."

            Super Sonic looked over him. "So, Ultra Drake, what do you say we get rid of this destructive monster, Proto II."

            Ultra Drake smiled. "The worlds don't have to end, we can do this!" The two transformed friends flew up into the sky, and out of the building.

            Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Rouge all watched them as they went. "Well," Knuckles said, "It's all up to them now."


	16. The Ending Battle

            Sonic belongs to Sega. He's the only one in this chapter besides Drake and Proto II, who are mine.

            Yeah, I know what you're going to say. "This is way too short for the major battle at the end of the story!" The thing is, the real important part of the story is next chapter, in which everything will be explained: Where Drake came from, what the Chaos Medallions really are (Sonic's only half right), and why Drake was looking for them, even thought he's the guardian of the Great Medallion. This little showdown may be really short, but always remember my policy: save the longest for last!

            Thanks for reviewing, even though this story's not the best. It means a lot to me.

Chapter 16: The Ending Battle

            Half of Station Square lay in ruin. Proto II relentlessly fired blasts at the buildings, toppling then over. The screams of the citizens could be heard, penetrating the thick, heavy air of destruction. Proto II beat its long bat wings in the sky as it hovered up above, destroying everything in sight. At last, it perched on the top of a demolished building as Sonic and Drake approached.

            "Alright," said Sonic. "Now how do we defeat this thing?"

            "I can't tell you that," Drake replied.

            Sonic whipped around to face him. "We're in the middle of a worldwide crisis, and you start with that 'I can't tell you that' stuff again?! You better tell me how to kill this monster; I don't care about any rules you're breaking!"

            Drake hovered backwards a little bit. "I can't tell you because I don't know!" he cried.

            Sonic looked back at the monster, frightened. "Well if you don't know how to get rid of it, nobody does."

            Proto II turned its round head and spotted them hovering before it. Its strong hind feet gave a powerful kick, and it jumped high in the air and began flying.

            "Well," Sonic said. "We've got to try." He barreled towards the monster, revving into a tight, shining yellow ball. The force knocked Proto II back a bit, but didn't really injure it.

            The creature retaliated with a couple of homing blasts. Sonic and Drake tried to avoid all of them.

            Now, it was Drake's turn to try an attack. He went shooting at Proto II, much like Sonic had, except his attack spiraled like a football. Still, the attack only seemed to push the creature back a bit.

            Proto II fired more homing blasts and this time tried to whack them with its sharp talons.

            Drake suddenly got an idea. The jet boosters started up on the bottoms of his sneakers. "Come and get me!" he called to the creature. Then he took off at an incredible speed, zooming in circles around the beast. Proto II began to get dizzy watching him flying by and trying to catch him. It wobbled a little bit in the air. Finally, Drake shot off from his circle. "Sonic!" he called. "Try hitting it now, while it's dizzy!"

            Sonic was staring at Proto II, thinking hard. An idea suddenly popped into his head. He shot off downward.

            Drake was shocked and scared. "Sonic?! What are you doing?!"

            Sonic floated down, until he was finally below Proto II. Looking up, he saw just what he was expecting. It might be impervious to attack up above, but its underbelly was more soft and tender. Sonic zoomed upwards, slamming into Proto II's stomach with all his might. The creature roared in pain, but still remained aloft.

            The teamwork continued, Drake distracting Proto II with his boosted air speed so Sonic could sneak up under it and hit it where it counted. After four more attacks, Proto II finally closed its slit-eyes and dropped from the sky, crashing against the rubble below.

            "Yeah!" Sonic cried. "We did it! Proto II is dead!" The two of them landed on the smoldering building pieces and gave each other high-fives.

            Sonic looked up at the building where the others were waiting. Thankfully, it hadn't been destroyed. "That was great teamwork," Sonic commented. "Well, I guess we should get back and let the others know we're okay."

            Drake nodded at him.

            Suddenly, the huge, sharp talon of Proto II burst from the rubble below him. It grabbed Drake and closed around him, tighter and tighter. "Help," he croaked nearly out of breath.

            The giant, round head appeared over the side. Its sharp, red teeth were moving closer and closer. Drake screamed.

            Finally, at the last second, Sonic used all of his strength to yank him out of the talon.

            "It's not dead!" Drake cried, shaken by the surprise attack.

            "Well, that's obvious!" Sonic yelled. He began glowing brighter than before. With all of the Chaos Emerald energy he could call forth, Sonic delivered one mega-powerful blast to Proto II's head. It howled, and finally fell down backwards, motionless.

            Sonic dropped down beside Drake. "Phew!" he said. "_Now _it's dead."


	17. Explanations and Farewells

Yup, Sonic and ARC still below to Sega. Drake and Ruth belong to me

This is it! The final chapter of SA3! This will explain everything and what happens after Proto II is destroyed. Since this is the last chapter, it's a little longer. Oh, and if you enjoyed this story, please read my sort-of sequel (when it gets up). It'll be much different from this one, and star Knuckles and the Chaotix. The title right now is Knuckles Quest.

Thanks so much to everyone who has read up to this point. Kudos for your support!

Chapter 17: Explanations and Farewells

Sonic and Drake flew back up to the opening in the top of the building.

Amy was the first to notice, pointing up into the sky. "Look!" she cried. "It's them!"

Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge all looked to where Amy was pointing and jumped up. Sonic and Drake landed gently back on the floor of the laboratory.

"So, did you do it?" Tails asked, fearfully.

Sonic paused for a moment, for dramatic effect. Then he smiled and gave them a thumbs-up. "You bet! It was a little hard at first, but with Drake's help, that 'ultimate destruction monster' was history!"

Sonic's Super transformation wore off and he returned to his normal Sonic blue color. The Chaos Emeralds fell back out, their power used up once again.

The same happened to Drake as his Ultra transformation was cancelled and the Chaos Medallions fell back to the ground. He quickly scooped them up again.

The six of them stared at each other for a long moment.

"So…" Amy quietly spoke up. "What now?" Her sentence seemed to sum up what everyone was thinking at that moment.

"Yeah," Rouge added. "The city is destroyed, and Proto II is dead. What do we do, just walk away?"

Sonic looked back at the black echidna that for a long time had been his enemy, but now he had a lot of respect for him. "Drake?" he said. "You've been awfully quiet since we defeated that monster."

Drake clutched the Chaos Medallions and slowly floated up, a few feet above the ground. The Great Medallion flew up behind him. He took a deep breath. "…It's time for me to go."

"Back to where you came from?" Sonic asked. "Wherever that is. I wish I knew more about you. I mean, you are one of my friends, now…" He shook his head. "But if you can't tell us, then I guess I understand."

Drake shook his head. "It's okay," he said. "You already know too much as it is. I may as well just tell you the rest."

Everyone perked up and listened.

Drake stared down at them. "I don't come from around here, but that's obvious. I come from another world, not another planet, but a separate dimension. My dimension is connected to this one by a special, magical portal we call the Passage. However, residents from this dimension and from my dimension are never supposed to meet. Long ago, the Passage was sealed off by the Chaos Medallions…"

"The Chaos Medallions…" Sonic interrupted. "Are they the equivalents of the Chaos Emeralds in your dimension?"

"Sort of," Drake answered. "It's a long story; let's start at the beginning…" He took another deep breath. This was all he had been told as a child about how they came to be.

"Long ago, when Angel Island was still joined with this main land, there were many different tribes of echidnas. The great wizards and metal workers of this era forged powerful items known as the Chaos Medallions. The problem was, once they were near the natural Chaos Emeralds, the two powers collided, causing a radiation of evil rays. The ancient ones knew if the Chaos Medallions and Chaos Emeralds were allowed to coexist, destruction, evil, and hatred would fill the world. The most powerful wizards combined their powers to form another world- another dimension. The Sashurai tribe, which chose to stay behind, was consumed by the evil rays of hatred and greed leading to their destruction by way of the Great Water Spirit, Chaos. The Passage between this new world and their old world was sealed off, and a final medallion forged- the Great Medallion, with powers equal to the old world's Master Emerald. To ensure that this seal was never broken, and to keep the peace in these worlds, "keepers" were chosen by the two equal powers. Knuckles was chosen by the Master Emeralds, and I was chosen by the Great Medallion…"

Knuckles stepped forward. "So that's what you meant when you called me a good keeper."

Drake smiled and nodded.

"Why did you think you were a bad keeper?" Knuckles asked. "You protected the Great Medallion all this time."

Drake looked at the floor. "One day, the Chaos Medallions were suddenly sucked into this dimension by some unseen force…I still don't know what it was. My Great Medallion began reacting to their disappearance, and I knew I had to recover them, because if they got together with the Chaos Emeralds, something terrible would happen. I removed the seal on the Passage, and went through it, arriving here, which is against all the rules of the universe."

"But you only did it because it was necessary," Sonic argued. "You're only the guardian of the Great Medallion."

Drake shook his head. "My job goes beyond the Great Medallion; I'm also the keeper of all the Chaos Medallions. I should have been watching them, so they never would have been transported here in the first place." He sighed. "But I have them back now, so it's all made up for."

Knuckles spoke again. "Then it's unfair to compare yourself to me. I'm only the guardian of the Master Emerald. If I had to guard the Chaos Emeralds too, I think I would go crazy."

Drake smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Did you know about Proto II beforehand?" Sonic asked.

"Only a little bit," Drake answered. "The professor created that second prototype of his ultimate life form to be extremely destructive and all-powerful, but Chaos Emeralds alone didn't provide enough power. To achieve that purely evil, destructive power, he needed to find the Chaos Medallions, but Knuckles and I prevented him from ever reaching the Passage."

"Huh?" Knuckles said. "You and I? But I didn't know you until just recently."

Drake looked at him. "You don't remember much of your childhood, do you?"

Knuckles' eyes widened. "You know about…?"

"You don't remember because we erased your memories. How did you think you were born if you were the only echidna living here? You were born in my dimension, but brought here to fulfill your duties as keeper of the Master Emerald. We met once, when we were small, but I didn't remember much of that meeting until I saw you again."

Knuckles looked very perplexed and blown away by what he had just heard.

The large, blue, swirling portal that was the Passage appeared behind Drake. He glanced back at it. "Guess I ought to get going," he said.

"Will you come back again sometime?" Tails asked.

"Oh, that's another thing I forgot to tell you," Drake said. "The only reason I told you all this, is that once I step through this portal, all your memories of this encounter will be erased. I'm sorry, Foxaroni, but I can't come back ever again. I have to erase your memories because you're not supposed to know this other dimension exists."

Tears welled up in Tails's eyes. "You mean…I'll never, ever see you again?"

Drake paused for a moment. "Unfortunately, yes."

Tails flew up and hugged him again, crying a little bit.

A lump formed in Drake's throat as he held the little fox. "At least the pain will go away. When your memories are erased, you won't even know who I am, and you won't be sad anymore."

"I don't want to forget you," Tails sniffed. "You're…my friend." Drake looked up at the others as he tried to comfort Tails.

Sonic gave him a smile, even though he looked a little melancholy. "Thanks for your help," he said. "You made a great teammate."

Knuckles stepped a little closer, looking solemn. "Thank you, Drake," he said. "…For saving my life. I'm sorry I was so angry at you before."

"I don't blame you," Drake told him, with a smile. "Hey, you didn't know what the heck I was talking about."

Knuckles smiled back at him. A moment of silence followed.

Finally, Drake lifted Tails from his chest. "Don't worry, Foxaroni," he said. "You may forget me, but I'll never forget you. Thank you for making me welcome in this dimension. And who knows? If we ever meet again, I promise we'll still be friends."

"Yeah," Tails said, wiping his big, blue eyes. "Who can ever truly forget a licorice echidna like you?"

Now Drake was the one holding back tears.

Suddenly, a familiar green head popped out of the swirling blue portal. "Hey, hurry it up. I can't keep this here portal open all day!"

Drake jumped a foot in the air. "Geez, Ruth!" he cried. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Amy's face lit up. "Ruth!" she called, waving to her. "Hi!"

Ruth looked up and noticed Amy. She smiled back. "Hey, Amy-girl! How's it been goin'? Ya doin' good with them boots?"

"Yeah," Amy called. "These boots are the best things ever! Thanks a billion!"

Ruth waved to her and looked back to Drake. "Are ya ready ta go yet?" Ya got all the medallions?"

"Yes," Drake replied. "Just saying my farewells."

Ruth disappeared back into the Passage.

Drake turned back to Sonic and Co. "Thanks for everything, all of you. You're all great friends." He waved and stepped towards the portal. "Bye, guys."

"Bye, Drake," the others all called, waving back to him. Slowly, he stepped back through the portal. As the bright blue pattern engulfed his black body, it gave off a shining white light.

The buildings in Station Square magically reconstructed themselves. The body of Proto II was gone. The people that had been killed were instantly alive, without a recollection of anything that happened. The Chaos Emeralds were gone, once again scattered. Getaway Island had disappeared, as if it had never been there.

From the bottom of the building, Eggman searched every corner of his jacket. "Hmm, I could've sworn I stole some papers from the space colony. Where did I put them? And what were they about? I can't seem to remember…"

Sonic and his friends slowly woke up in the laboratory. There was no trace of where the Passage had just been a few minutes ago.

Sonic stood up and slowly looked around. "Where am I?" he asked.

"It looks like some sort of laboratory, but it doesn't look like it's been used," Tails said.

"How did we _get _here?" Amy asked. "I don't remember coming in here."

"Eeeeew!" Rouge shrieked from her corner. "What am I doing in here with _you_?!" She ran out of the lab and back to her headquarters.

"Yeah," Knuckles said, scratching his head. "Why would I come all the way over here for no reason at all?"

"Maybe we were sleepwalking," Tails suggested. "I just think it's kind of strange that all of us sleepwalked to this same spot."

Knuckles looked down at his hands and screamed. "Why…why is there blood on my hands??!!"

Amy looked down. "Hey, why am I wearing these strange boots?" She looked closer at them. "They're kind of cool. Maybe I went shopping while I was sleepwalking."

Knuckles just stared at his hands, with his eyes widened in terror. "Oh my God…I must've done something terrible while I was sleepwalking…"

Tails shivered. "This is like something out of a horror film."

Knuckles shook his head and ran over to the doorway. "Well, I have to go now! I have to go back to Angel Island. And just a warning…it's not safe to be around me while I'm sleeping!" He ran out of the building.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails all looked at each other. "I guess we should get out of here too," Sonic said. They followed him down the stairs of the building.

"How do we get out of this place?" Tails asked. "Is there someone here to help out?"

Sonic looked around. "Hello? A little help here?"

Amy looked a little puzzled. "Hey, I wonder whatever happened to Omochao? I haven't seen him around lately."

Tails shrugged. "Maybe he got lost."

After a few more minutes of searching, Sonic finally found the exit. The three friends stepped out into Station Square, bright and bustling with people.

Sonic stretched. "What do you say we take a vacation? All this adventuring, fighting monsters, and going into space is very stressful. Maybe that's why we all started sleepwalking."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Amy said.

"Hey, who said you were invited?" Sonic said.

Amy's mouth hung open. "You wouldn't take a vacation without me…would you?"

Sonic smiled. "When I said I needed a vacation, I also meant I needed a vacation from _you_." Sonic and Amy started friendly arguing with each other.

While they talked, Tails looked up at the sky. Somehow, he felt that they were missing something, but he couldn't put a finger on what. Oh well, he thought to himself. Why worry about it now? He followed his two hedgehog friends down the street towards the ocean.

Only a rainbow hanging in the sky gave a hint of what had really happened that day. Both dimensions were finally at peace once again.

Sonic may have saved the world again, but the real hero would go unacknowledged. It might not have been right, or have made a lot of sense, but this was the way things were supposed to be. And the way they would remain. Forever.

Fin


End file.
